A Survey on Reconfigurable Microstrip Filter–Antenna Integration: Recent Developments and Challenges

Abstract

Reconfigurable and tunable radio frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) components have become exciting topics for many researchers and design engineers in recent years. Reconfigurable microstrip filter–antenna combinations have been studied in the literature to handle multifunctional tasks for wireless communication systems. Using such devices can reduce the need for many RF components and minimize the cost of the whole wireless system, since the changes in the performance of these applications are achieved using electronic tuning techniques. However, with the rapid development of current fourth-generation (4G) and fifth-generation (5G) applications, compact and reconfigurable structures with a wide tuning range are in high demand. However, meeting these requirements comes with some challenges, namely the increased design complexity and system size. Accordingly, this paper aims to discuss these challenges and review the recent developments in the design techniques used for reconfigurable filters and antennas, as well as their integration. Various designs for different applications are studied and investigated in terms of their geometrical structures and operational performance. This paper begins with an introduction to microstrip filters, antennas, and filtering antennas (filtennas). Then, performance comparisons between the key and essential structures for these aspects are presented and discussed. Furthermore, a comparison between several RF reconfiguration techniques, current challenges, and future developments is presented and discussed in this review. Among several reconfigurable structures, the most efficient designs with the best attractive features are addressed and highlighted in this paper to improve the performance of RF and MW front end systems.