Switched parasitic antennas: small, smart and simple

Speaker: Professor David V. Thiel, Director, Radio Science Laboratory, Griffith University - Nathan


When: 06.00PM, Friday 28 March 2003

Venue: Room 0.05, Science 2 Building (N34),  Griffith University - Nathan Campus, http://www.gu.edu.au/locations/maps/na_map_park.pdf 


Abstract:

 Switched parasitic antennas were first suggested by Harrington in the 1980's as a means of
controlling the direction of an array of dipoles. A centre fed dipole was surrounded by parasitic antenna
elements, each with voltage controlled reactance at their centre. By controlling the voltage at
each parasitic element, the beam direction can be directed through 360 degrees.
In 1996, Thiel, O'Keefe and Lu suggested that a switch at the centre gave simple control of both patch and monopole antennas.
Since that time the technique has been enhanced to include multi-band, dielectric embedded, and multibeam antennas.
A monopole antenna array on a small ground plane can be directed horizontally using a quarter-wavelength long sleeve.
A switched parasitic antenna at the feed point of a parabolic dish antenna allows electornic beam control.
These antennas have a relatively small footprint (less than one wavelength of 360 degree coverage), can be driven
using simple digital logic and are simple to fabricate.  

This presentation will describe the technologies and comment on some applications currently being evaluated.


Biography:

Professor David Thiel graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1970
 and was awarded his M.Sc and PhD degrees from James Cook University.
He is currently Head of the School of Microelectronic Engineering at Griffith University,
Director of the Radio Science Laboratory, and serves as Chair of the Wave Propagation Standards Committee of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society.
He recently coauthored a book with Stephenie Smith titled "Switched parasitic Antennas for Cellular Communications" published by Artech House.