Sensitivity Analysis for Active Matched Antennas With Non-Foster Elements

Abstract

During the last years many researchers have been working on the active matching or on non-Foster matching networks for one-and two-port electrically small antennas (ESAs). A new parameter on the sensitivity of the two-port electrically small antenna when loaded with a non-Foster network is presented. This sensitivity analysis will allow us to choose what kind of antennas can be properly matched with non-Foster networks and their position in order to optimize the performance of the design. Then, a typical high Q two-port antenna will be harder to match over a broad bandwidth, since vertical bar s(21)vertical bar is very small and only agrees with vertical bar s(11)vertical bar over very small frequency bands, yielding very large sensitivity values. However, for these two-port antennas, if high levels of coupling can be engineered for a high Q multiple-port antenna, the return and insertion losses can be similar over larger bandwidths and, hence, the sensitivity can be kept low over larger bandwidths, enabling broader impedance matched bandwidths to be achieved, even for highly resonant antennas.