Power divider network for dual-fed adaptive antenna

Abstract

AbstractExposing the near field of an antenna to varying dielectric environment causes changes of the antenna input impedance and, thus, unwanted feed mismatch. Feeding such an antenna at different points, and selecting an appropriate feed for best match at a given scenario, may solve the problem. For the case of two scenarios of different dielectric environments and an antenna with two feed points, this work presents a passive power divider network, which keeps the antenna matched to the source in either scenario. Specific impedance transformations in the two branches of the divider network realize power transfer in a first scenario from the source to complex feed impedance at the first antenna feed, while in a second scenario, with now different antenna feed impedances, matched power transfer is from the source to the second antenna feed. Analytical formulae are derived for the design of the divider network. An experiment uses an example antenna with two feeds and a microstrip divider network, connected to a common 50 ohm port. Measurements are conducted with the antenna radiating, first, in air and, secondly, into butter. The measurements show antenna match at 1 GHz in either case and agree well with the analytical results.