Wideband Polarization Reconfigurable Crossed Bowtie Dipole Antenna Based on Liquid Metal Switches

In this paper, a wideband polarization recon-figurable dipole antenna based on liquid metal switches is proposed. The main parts of the antenna are two single-fed crossed bowtie dipoles with slots loaded on the arms of one dipole. Two sets of fixed-length liquid metal columns filled in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tubes are attached on top of the slots as switches. Because of the coupled connection between the liquid metal columns and the dipole arms, the slots can be shorted/opened by changing the position of the liquid metal columns, leading to alteration in phase differences between dipoles, and thus achieving polarization reconfiguration. The bowtie dipoles are used to obtain wide operating bandwidth, while the use of a cavity-backed reflector can make the antenna obtain directional radiation characteristics. The simulated results obtained by CST Microwave Studio® show that the impedance bandwidth of the antenna is from 1.01 GHz to 2.25 GHz and the axial ratio bandwidth is from 1.18 GHz to 1.36 GHz. Moreover, the peak gain can reach 8.78 dBi.