Drexel University

Politecnico Di Milano

Adant Technologies, Inc.

Adant Srl

Michele D'Amico

Daniele Piazza

Kapil R Dandekar

John Kountouriotis

Prathaban Mookiah

A method allows reconfigurable multi-element antennas to select the antenna configuration in MIMO, SIMO and MISO communication system. This selection scheme uses spatial correlation, channel reciprocal condition number, delay spread and average Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) information to select the antenna radiation pattern at the receiver. Using this approach, it is possible to achieve capacity gains in a multi-element reconfigurable antenna system without modifying the data frame of a conventional wireless communication system. The capacity gain achievable with this configuration selection approach is calculated through numerical simulations using reconfigurable circular patch antennas at the receiver of a MIMO system that employs minimum mean square error receivers for channel estimation. Channel capacity and Bit Error Rate (BER) results show the improvement offered relative to a conventional antenna selection technique for reconfigurable MIMO systems.

Systems and methods for selecting reconfigurable antennas in MIMO systems

Reconfigurable antennas in an ad-hoc network are provided where all nodes employ MIMO/SIMO/MISO communication techniques. Three types of reconfigurable antennas: Reconfigurable Printed Dipole Array (RPDA), Reconfigurable Circular Patch Antenna (RCPA) and Two-Port Reconfigurable CRLH Leaky Wave Antennas are used. The RPDA, RCPA and the CRLH Leaky Wave antennas have a different number of configurations as well as different degrees of pattern diversity between possible configurations. To effectively use these antennas in a network, the performance of centralized and decentralized antenna configuration selection schemes are quantified for reconfiguration at one or both link ends. The sum capacity of the network is used as a metric to quantify the performance of these antennas in measured and simulated network channels.

Reconfigurable antennas and configuration selection methods for AD-HOC networks

Leaky wave antennas that can be reconfigured in pattern and/or polarization by exploiting the characteristic of metamaterial structures loaded with variable capacitor and inductors employ a Composite Right Left Handed (CRLH) unit cell with two independent DC biases used to actively change the group delay of the transmission line and the polarization of the radiated field while preserving good impedance matching. Different degrees of pattern and polarization reconfigurability are achieved by cascading multiple of these unit cells along a straight line, a circular line or a zigzag line while preserving high gain for all the antenna configurations and good impedance matching.

Metamaterial reconfigurable antennas

An antenna system that allows increasing the reading reliability of RFId systems by dynamically changing the shape or the polarization of the electromagnetic field radiated by the RPId reader. The system includes at least one reconfigurable antenna, a variable DC bias unit and a methodology to efficiently use the system in RFId applications. The system allows changing the direction in which the energy is radiated or the polarization of the radiated field in order to 'move' the electromagnetic field and to also read RFid tags that receive faint signals with standard RFid systems. Polarization alignment between the reader's antenna and the transponder allows for maximum power transfer, while changing the direction of radiation allows concentrating the electromagnetic field towards the transponder.

Growing community of inventors

Milan, Italy

Michele D'Amico