Novel Dielectric Wedge Phase Shifter for 3G Mobile Basestation Antennas

Phase shifter with moveable dielectric wedge
plate sandwiching the strip line in a tri-plate transmission
line structure is proposed and designed for 3G basestation
antenna. Numerical simulations indicate that phase-shift
unit with saw-tooth shaped wedge dielectric may provide
low return loss and insertion loss. The performance of the
proposed wedge dielectric phase shifter is further
demonstrated by a four-element 3G linear array. Return
loss below -17dB at 3G frequency bands and beam tilting
in the vertical plane of the base station antenna in a range
of 0.2o  to 12o can be obtained.