Anovelmethodfordesigningabeam-switchingantennawiththeplanedipoleispresented.Theantennaiscomposedofdoubledipolesplacedatthecenterofanactivesquarestructurethatispidedinfourequalsectorsbymetallicsheets.Metallicpatchesattheoutsideofthestructureareusedtoenhancetheradiationperformanceoftheantenna.Ineachstep,thediodesinonesectorareon,whereasotherdiodesareoff.Thesectorwithoff-statediodesdefinesthedirectionoftheradiationpattern.AnantennamodelisdesignedonthesubstrateofFR4.Theproposedantennaoperatesfrom4.8GHzto5.5GHzwithgainof6.3dBiandF/B(fronttobackratio)of13.2dBiwhentheoperatingfrequencyis5.2GHz.Theantennaradiationpatterncanbesweptintheentireazimuthplaneinfourstepswitha3dBbeamwidthof90.Theresultsrevealthattheantennacouldbeusedinthebasestationofthewirelesscommunicationsystems.
