A novel switched parasitic array and diversity scheme using horizontally polarized antennas

Abstract

Switched Parasitic Arrays (SPAs) are proposed as an attractive alternative to fully adaptive arrays, due to their compact size and significantly lower cost of development. The main concept of SPAs is the deployment of switches on parasitic elements, which can be properly adjusted, in order to effectively control the radiation pattern of one active element. Conventional SPAs consist of circular arrays of vertically polarized dipoles and parasitic elements. In this paper, a novel SPA design is proposed, which is based on multiple switches employed on the body of horizontally polarized elements (one active and two parasitics). Design considerations are discussed and numerical results are illustrated. Furthermore, a simple diversity scheme is proposed, based on the novel SPA design. Superior performance of the proposed array, relative to simple non-diversity reception schemes, is indicated by simulation results.