This paper presents an electrically small antenna (ka = 0.87) with ultra-low-profile 0.005λ0 and six reconfigurable endfire radiation patterns, which cover the entire 360° azimuth plane. An equivalent magnetic dipole and six switchable equivalent electric dipoles form the six reconfigurable endfire radiation patterns by switching the ON/OFF states of six PIN diodes. The designing bright point is the dual side printed loop, that is, an Alford loop and six loaded circular arc stubs, which form the equivalent magnetic dipole. This technique can reduce the size by 77% compared with single side printed loop, expand the bandwidth, and produce a strong and uniform near magnetic field, which leads to a high F/B ratio. Compared with published pattern-reconfigurable ESAs with endfire radiation characteristics, the proposed antenna has highet F/B ratio about 35.6 dB, more switchable states and expanded bandwidth. In addition, the measured peak realized gain and radiation efficiency at 1.5 GHz are 3.52 dBi and 77.6%, respectively.
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