Fabrication, Measurement and Verification of Switchable Dielectric Resonator Antenna Array for 5G Applications

Abstract

This paper describes the fabrication, measurement and verification of switchable dielectric resonator antenna array for 5G applications. 5G has a small size of antenna due to its shorter wavelength compared to the previous generation. This small size causes difficulty in obtaining precision in the fabrication process as well as measurement. In this research, the dielectric resonators (DR) are painstakingly aligned on the ground plane slot by using the tracing paper. This simple technique had successfully enhanced the accuracy of the DR position since the misalignment between the DR and the feeding network is minimized. The performance of the reflection coefficient of the fabricated antenna are verified by connecting the port directly to the Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) to minimal the additional losses during the measurement. The results of the reflection coefficient showed that the losses for five various switching angles have been reduced in the range of 2 to 3 dB. Subsequent to this, the switchable DRA array is able to steer at three various steering angle which are 0°, -30° and +30° with 3dB beamwidth around 24°. Hence, the proposed switchable DRA array is capable to cover 60° sector which is considered suitable for 5G applications.