Design and Analysis of Resistive Series RF MEMS Switches Based Fractal U-Slot Reconfigurable Antenna

The performance improvement of the reconfigurable antennas have potential impact on today’s advance wireless communication networks. The design aspects and analysis of resistive RF MEMS series switch based fractal U-slot reconfigurable antenna are presented in the paper. For achieving the optimum performance of the switch in antenna, the low insertion loss and high isolation plays the vital role. Moreover, for the series RF MEMS based switches cantilever length, thickness and a gap space between the electrodes decides the pull-in voltage. The optimization of resistive RF MEMS series switch is carried out by Taguchi method using statistical analysis software. This statistical analysis provided the insight into the parameters that are critical to the design of switch. This optimum switch design is subsequently useful for superior performance of the antenna. The switch is designed and electromagnetic characteristics are analysed. The integration of resistive RF MEMS switches in U-slot fractal antenna is done using simulation tool. The performance of antenna has improved in terms of radiation efficiency and gain while sustaining omni directional radiation characteristics in X–Z plane. The multiband and wide band characteristics are obtained that makes it suitable for Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, UMTS & GSM applications.