Gravitationally controlled passive beam steering of a printed cross dipole antenna

In this study, the design and characterization of a printed cross-dipole antenna with a gravitationally controlled passive beam steering technique has been presented. The steering of the beam is achieved by using a floating reflector that remains parallel to the earth surface when the antenna along with the mounted body gets inclined while traveling through uneven roadways. Initially, the microstrip cross dipole antenna is designed and simulated along with the reflector to operate in one of the allocated 5G frequency bands of 2.6 GHz. This is followed by the fabrication of the antenna prototype along with a glass chamber where the reflector is kept floated over the fluid. Measurements are carried out and are in good comparison with that of the simulated one. This presented work can be a potential passive beam steering technique that can be used for surface-to-air communication systems.