Electronically beam switched conformal microstrip array antenna for 5G applications

This article presents an electronically beam-switching conformal microstrip array antenna for 5G applications. The 1 x 2 array microstrip antenna is used as a radiating element. They are placed on a hexagonal shape-holding structure to form the conformal geometry. The radiating elements are excited with a six-faced feeding network. It consists of one 3-way power divider and two 2-way power dividers. These power dividers (PDs) are serially connected and formed a six-faced regular structure with 12 output ports. To obtain the beam switching mechanism, the uniform PD is then loaded with RF switched PD. Six angular separation beams (Sectors I-VI) are obtained (each 60 degrees) with RF switches (1 SP3T and 3 SPDT). The response of the feed network is verified experimentally with a conformal array structure. The impedance bandwidth is well below -10 dB and measured for all switched sectors. The measured isolation among different output ports of the device is below -20 dB. The simple microstrip design technique makes the device suitable for beam switching in a large array configuration for 5G applications.