A Pattern Reconfigurable Compact Antenna Structure Based on Shorted Microstrip Patches

A compact pattern reconfigurable antenna structure is proposed. The proposed antenna structure is composed of two shorted quarter-wave microstrip patch antennas placed side by side to share a common shorting plane. Therefore, the total length of the antenna is a half wavelength. Pattern reconfiguration is achieved by exciting two antennas with different phases and consequently steering the main beam. With such a compact antenna, beam steering up to 350 is demonstrated.