Reconfigurable Antenna with Sum and Difference Patterns Based on Liquid Metal

A microstrip antenna with sum and difference beam capabilities using liquid metal is presented. Firstly, the performance of a transmission structure that the liquid metal contacts the microstrip transmission line indirectly is studied. Then a power divider using this structure is proposed. By injecting the liquid metal into different regions, the path of the energy transfer is changed, thus changing the phase of the output ports. Finally, a microstrip antenna using this power divider to achieve sum and difference beams is designed. The simulation results show that the antenna operates at 1.6GHz with gain of 9.99dB and 7.3dB in sum and difference beam states respectively.