3-D printed CDRA for radiation beam reconfigurability and beamforming in C-band

In this article, the design of a radiation beam-reconfigurable antenna using the reflector pins is presented. The reflector pins make a short or open connection with the ground, via switches and Plated Through Hole (PTH), which helps in controlling radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna. This design contains a simple 3D printed Cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antenna that is located at the center of the substrate. The beam-sweeping of the antenna is attained by operating switches in different combinations of ON and OFF states. The reconfigurable CDRA operates at 4.5 GHz and covers all azimuth angles in four steps with a maximum measured gain of 6.6 dBi. This beam-switching antenna is very advantageous because of its trait of eliminating fade zones and beamforming.