2023 6th International Conference on Electronics Technology

An Eight-Beam Switchable Antenna Based on Butler

Matrix for Intelligent Application of Mobile
Communication
2023 6th International Conference on Electronics Technology (ICET) | 979-8-3503-3769-3/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/ICET58434.2023.10211984

Chenliang Lv Xiaowei Xing Wenqi Jia Junhong Wang

Institute of Lightwave Institute of Lightwave Institute of Lightwave Institute of Lightwave
Technology Technology Technology Technology
Beijing Jiaotong University Beijing Jiaotong University Beijing Jiaotong University Beijing Jiaotong University
Beijing, China Beijing, China Beijing, China Beijing, China
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—In this paper, eight-beam switchable antennas [1]; compared with the adaptive antenna, the beam switchable
based on 4 × 4 butler matrix for intelligent applications of mobile antenna attracts more attention [2]-[8]. It has simple structure,
communication is proposed. The antenna can provide different small size and high stability, which is suitable for intelligent
radio wave coverage according to the requirement of the communication systems.
communication scene to improve the communication quality, and
the structure is relatively simple. The eight-beam switchable The main problems encountered in the switchable antenna
antenna for one-dimensional radio wave coverage uses two rows design include following aspects: first, it is difficult to achieve
of 1 × 4 microstrip patch array with different element spacing as beam switching efficiently through a simple structure; secondly,
the radiation unit, and the eight-beam switchable antenna for the beam switching antenna usually needs switching element or
two-dimensional radio wave coverage uses two rows of 1 × 4 parasitic unit to achieve the different beam pointing; thirdly,
microstrip patch array with the same element spacing as the
radiation unit. 4 × 4 butler matrix together with PIN diodes are
the antenna structure is too complex with the design
used as the feed network of the antennas. By switching the requirements, which does not conform to the trend of
exciting port of butler matrix and controlling the on-off states of miniaturization and low profile [9].
the PIN diodes, eight-beam switching for one-dimensional and The antenna structure proposed in this paper increases the
two-dimensional radio wave coverage is realized.
number of discrete beams in a simpler way, and the antenna
Keywords—intelligent applications, beam switching, butler structure still maintains low complexity. And it can realize
matrix beam switching by changing the excitation port of butler
matrix and controlling the on-off of the PIN diode using RF
I. INTRODUCTION switchers [10][11]. It is an efficient way to design a beam
switching antenna with simple structure, low energy
Mobile communication system was marked by the consumption for mobile communication intelligent applications.
application of 1G (first-generation mobile communication
system) in 1986. After more than 30 years of rapid
development, it has greatly changed people's lifestyle and II. ANTENNA DESIGN AND SIMULATION RESULTS
become one of the most important driving forces for social
development. 5G and future mobile communication systems A. Design of the Patch Array
will provide people with a communication experience of higher According to the theory of phased array, the array element
data rates, lower latency, and larger number of device spacing and the phase difference of the array element affect the
connection. With the sharp increase in mobile terminal beam direction, and the angle between the beam direction and
equipment, channel interference becomes serious and the antenna axis is determined by
communication quality cannot be effectively improved. At the
same time, the trend of low energy consumption must be
complied with. Therefore, new technologies for flexible, kdcosθM+ψ=0 ()
efficient and intelligent mobile communication must be
developed. where k is the wave number, d is the array element spacing,
and ψ is the phase difference of the array element.
Smart antenna is one of the important mobile
communication technologies, which can improve the radio In this paper, the antenna consisting of two rows of 1 × 4
wave coverage, and many kinds of smart antennas have been antenna array with different element spacing is considered first,
proposed. Generally, there are two kinds of smart antennas, as shown in Fig.1. By adjusting the phase difference between
namely adaptive antennas and beam switchable antennas. elements, each row of the antenna array can generate four
Adaptive antennas usually require additional hardware beams with different directions. By changing the element
facilities making them more complex, and is not conducive to spacing between two rows of the array, eight beams with
structural simplification, miniaturization and low profile, so it different directions will be generated.
is difficult to apply to 5G and future communication systems

979-8-3503-3769-3/23/$31.00 ©2023 IEEE 282

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 Using the relationship between the desire direction and the two adjacent output ports approach to -45°; the
phase difference, the element spacing of the two row elements transmission coefficients from port 2 to four output ports are in
of antenna array is determined. The element spacing for the the range from -6.32 dB to -7.50 dB, while the phase
first row of array is 80 mm, and the element spacing for the differences between the two adjacent output ports approach to
second row of array is 60 mm. In the feeding network, two 135°. Due to the symmetry of the butler matrix, the S-
rows of PIN diodes are used to switch which row of antenna parameters of the output port are basically the same whether it
array is excited by. is fed through port 3 or port 2, but the phase difference of the
output ports is -135°. Similarly, when fed through port 4 or
port 1, the S-parameters of the output ports are almost the same,
the phase difference of the output ports is 45°.

Fig. 1. Array element arrangement of patch array

The antenna is designed on a Rogers RT5880 substrate

(a) Amplitude characteristics when port 1 is fed
with a dielectric constant of 2.2 and a dielectric loss of 0.0009.
The substrate thickness is 1.575 mm. The rectangular patch is
easier to obtain relatively larger bandwidth and larger gain than
other shapes of patches, so a simple rectangular patch is
selected as the radiation unit. The designed antenna works in
the 2.4 GHz band.

B. Design of Feeding Network Based on Butler Matrix

The commonly used feeding networks for beam switching
mainly include matrix and lens. The lens feeding network is
relatively larger, the Blass matrix uses many lossy devices, and
the bandwidth of the Nolen matrix is relatively narrow, but the
butler matrix is simple and flexible. Therefore, the antenna (b) Amplitude characteristics when port 2 is fed
designed in the paper uses the butler matrix as feeding network
[12]. The connection between the antenna array and the
feeding network is shown in Fig. 2.

(c) Amplitude characteristics when port 3 is fed

Fig. 2. Layout of the beam switchable antenna with the butler matrix network.

The transmission coefficients of the designed butler matrix

network are shown in Fig. 3. At 2.4 GHz, the transmission
coefficients from port 1 to four output ports are in the range
from -6.23 dB to -7.18 dB, while the phase differences between (d) Amplitude characteristics when port 4 is fed

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 drawn for the case when first row of PIN diodes is set “on” and
second row of PIN diodes is set “off”.

(e) Phase characteristics when port 1 is fed

Fig. 4. Return loss of each input port (set PIN1 “on”and PIN2 “off”)

(f) Phase characteristics when port 2 is fed

Fig. 5. Return loss of each input port (set PIN1 “off”and PIN2 “on”)

C. Design of Eight-Beam Switchable Antenna Array for Two-

Dimensional Space
Based on the above design of the feeding network, the
antenna consisting of two rows of 1 × 4 antenna array with the
same element spacing is further investigated, as shown in Fig.6.
Different from the one-dimensional eight-beam switchable
(g) Phase characteristics when port 3 is fed antenna, this antenna controls the phase difference between
array 1 and array 2 through changing the on-off states of PIN
diodes, and finally generates eight beams.

(h) Phase characteristics when port 4 is fed

Fig. 3. Frequency responses of the feeding network based on butler matrix

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 gives the return loss of each input port.
When first row of PIN diodes is set “on” and second row of (a) Front view of antenna structure
PIN diodes is set “off”, the return losses of the antenna are all
less than -10 dB at 2.4 GHz. The same conclusion can be

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 angles, when first row of PIN diodes is set “on” and second
row of PIN diodes is set “off”. Table II gives the different
inputs with their respective beam angles, when first row of PIN
diodes is set “off” and second row of PIN diodes is set “on”.

TABLE I. FEEDING PORT WITH RESPECTIVE BEAM ANGLES (PIN1 ON/PIN2

OFF)

Feeding Port 1 2 3 4
Proposed -45° 135° -135° 45°
Beam Angles 11° -30° 30° -11°

TABLE Ⅱ. FEEDING PORT WITH RESPECTIVE BEAM ANGLES (PIN1

OFF/PIN2 ON)
(b) Back view of the antenna structure
Feeding Port 1 2 3 4
Proposed -45° 135° -135° 45°
Beam Angles 15° -40° 40° -15°

The simulation results of the antenna radiation patters are

shown in the Fig. 7, from which we can see that eight beams
with different pointing angles are obtained. The beam
switching from -40°to 40°with an angle step of about 10°is
realized, which can provide more accurate beam control than
antennas with only four beams. The maximum gain of the
simulated antenna in the 2.4 GHz frequency band can reach
10.9 dBi.

(c) 3D diagram of antenna structure

Fig. 6. Diagram of the designed antenna structure

The antenna uses a double-layer structure, the middle is a

ground, and a 2  4 slot array is designed on the ground for
energy coupling. The substrates are Rogers RT5880 with a
dielectric constant of 2.2 and a dielectric loss of 0.0009, and (a) (b)
the thickness is 0.508 mm. The designed antenna works in 5.8
GHz frequency band.
Array 1 is directly excited by the front feeding network,
while array 2 is excited by the back feeding network through
the coupling of slot array. The phase difference between the
two arrays is controlled by switching the on-off states of PIN 1
and PIN 2. When PIN 1 is set “on” and PIN 2 is set “off”, the
phase difference between the two arrays is -90°. When PIN 1 is
set “off” and PIN 2 is set “on”, the phase difference between
the two arrays is 90°. These switching can generate (c) (d)
symmetrical tilted beams in the y-axis. As mentioned in the
previous text, each row of the antenna array itself can produce
four beams with different directions by adjusting the phase
difference. By combing the excitation port switching and
adjusting the states of diodes, the antenna can generate eight
beams finally.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

(e) (f)
A. One-Dimensional Eight-Beam Switchable Antenna
The 4 × 4 butler matrix is fed with a 50 Ω microstrip line.
Table I gives the different inputs with their respective beam

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 through the STM51 single-chip microcomputer, and finally
realize the intelligent switching of beams.

(g) (h)
Fig. 7. Results of simulated radiation patterns under different port excitations
and different on-off states of PIN diodes. Under PIN 1 on and port 1,2,3,4
exciting in turn, the antenna beam angle is (a) 11°, (b) -30°(c) 30°(d) -11°.
Under PIN 2 on and port 1,2,3,4 exciting in turn, the antenna beam angle is (e)
15°, (f) -40°(g) 40°(h) -15°.

B. Two-Dimensional Eight-Beam Switchable Antenna

Table Ⅲ gives the four beam directions in the x-axis of the
antenna under different input ports.

TABLE Ⅲ. FEEDING PORT WITH RESPECTIVE BEAM ANGLES

Feeding Port 1 AND 5 2 AND 6 3 AND 7 4 AND 8 (a)

Proposed -45° 135° -135° 45°

Beam Angles 11° -37° 37° -11°

The simulation results of the antenna radiation patters are

shown in the Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. The beam switching from -37°
to 37°in the x-axis direction and from -15°to 15°in the y-axis
direction is realized, which can provide more precise beam
control in two-dimensional space than one-dimensional eight-
beam antenna. The maximum gain of the simulated antenna in
the 5.8 GHz frequency band can reach 13.1 dBi.

(b)
Fig. 9. Results of simulated radiation patterns under different port excitations
and different on-off states of PIN diodes. (a) Setting PIN 1 “on” and PIN 2
(a) (b) “off”, (a) Setting PIN 1 “off” and PIN 2 “on”.

IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, eight-beam switchable antennas based on
butler matrix and PIN diodes are proposed and verified, which
can provide different radio coverage by controlling the on-off
states of PIN diodes and switching the excitation of ports. This
simple structure of multi-beam switchable antenna is more
suitable for mobile communication intelligent applications.
(c) (d)
Fig. 8. Results of simulated radiation patterns under different port excitations. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Under port 1,2,3,4 exciting in turn, the antenna beam angle is (a) 11°, (b) -
37°(c) 37°(d) -11°. This work was supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China under grant no.62031004 and 62221001.

Based on the above design of the antenna structure, We can

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