volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A six-element circular antenna array with Yagi-Uda corner reflector elements is proposed in order to achieve 360° beam-steering capability, high gain and cost-effective design objectives. The array element is mainly composed by a Yagi-Uda antenna, a corner reflector and a Wilkinson balun. For steering the main beam, instead of classical RF switching techniques, a virtual switching technique is offered. For this aim, each antenna element is connected to an affordable RF transceiver managed by a microcontroller. A USB hub is also used so that a computer operates all microcontrollers as peripheral devices. In this way, the switching operation can be performed in the software level. Furthermore, if every transceiver in the separate chain is set to a different frequency channel, a simultaneous communication is also possible with the help of the multithreading facility of the computer. In order to show the antenna array performance, the main antenna characteristics and test results are given. As a proof of concept, a wireless image collector scenario is also realized for a camera trap application. The results show that the circular antenna array design and switching technique work successfully.

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Mr. Suad Basbug