A New Ultra-wideband Beamforming for Wireless Communications in Underground Mines

In this paper, a novel ultra-wideband switched-beam antenna system based on 4×4 two-layer Butler matrix is presented and implemented to be used in hostile environment, such as underground mines. This matrix is based on the combination of a broadband twolayer slot-coupled directional coupler and a multilayer slot-coupled microstrip transition. With this configuration, the proposed matrix was designed without using any crossovers as used in conventional Butler matrices. Moreover, this new structure is compact and offers an ultra-wide bandwidth of 6 GHz. To examine the performance of the proposed matrix, experimental prototypes of the multilayer microstrip transition and the Butler matrix were fabricated and measured. Furthermore, a three 4-antenna arrays were also designed, fabricated and then connected to the matrix to form a beamforming antenna system at 3, 5.8 and 6 GHz. As a result, four orthogonal beams are produced in the band 3–9 GHz. This matrix is suitable for ultrawideband communication systems in confined areas.