Matching network using one control element for widely tunable antennas

A tunable impedance matching network is applied to achieve very widely tunable antennas, whose geometries are independent and unchanged to simplify the design. The attached matching network as the antenna feeding network enables any unspecified UWB antenna to tune the operation frequency continuously with high selectivity by merely one single control. This is quite different from filter-based concept which is complicated to co-design and implement a tiny narrow band tunable filter over wide frequency ranges and very difficult to control with one element. And also the design, adjustment, and optimization of the matching network are much simpler, quicker, and lower cost than geometry-modified antenna design. The analysis of precise high frequency circuit models is used predict the performance in simulation. Fabricated prototype antennas are measured by using horn antennas to validate the antenna performance. The tunable frequency ranges from 1.8 GHz to 2.8 GHz (155%) and 2.19 GHz to 3.86 GHz (176%). Moreover, compared to other matching network-based solutions, non-ideal effects in undesired bands other than the operation frequency band are suppressed, so the performance is improved. One wide-tuning antenna using one single element to control can be carried out by tunable matching networks without complicated designs.