Dual-functional communication and sensing antenna system

In this article, a dual functional antenna system for communication and sensing applications is designed on a single substrate having a common input port. The main motivation behind the proposed design is to build an antenna system, which can work as an antenna sensor and also can communicate over a fixed band not related to the resonance frequency shifts of the antenna sensor. The dual functionality of the system has been achieved by designing a frequency selective multipath filter (FSMF). The FSMF has an input port and two output ports. Both the communicating and sensing antennas are integrated on the output ports of the FSMF. The FSMF ensures minimum effect of the antennas on each other's performance. The performance of the antenna sensor is first shown by characterizing different standard substrates with epsilon(r) = 2.2 to 6.15 and then demonstrated for ice and water detection. The communicating antenna is used for Wi-Fi (2.45 GHz) applications. The simulated and measured results of the dual-functional antenna systems are in good agreement. The proposed design is fabricated on a PCB with epsilon(r) = 3.5 and tan delta = 0.0027 with an overall size of 86.7 x 26 x 0.8 mm(3).

Automated summary

In this article, a dual functional antenna system is proposed for both communication and sensing applications. The system uses a frequency selective multipath filter to achieve dual functionality and minimize interference between the antennas. The performance of the antenna sensor is demonstrated through experiments on different substrates and ice/water detection.