This letter proposes a reconfigurable directional coupler that uses a variable impedance mismatch reflector to achieve high isolation characteristics in the antenna front end. The reconfigurable coupler consists of a directional coupler and a single-pole four-throw (SP4T) switch with different load impedances as a variable load mismatch reflector. Selection of the load impedance by the reflector allows cancellation of the reflected signal due to antenna load mismatch and the leakage from the input to isolation port of the directional coupler, resulting in high isolation characteristics. The performance of the proposed architecture in separating the received (Rx) signal from the transmitted (Tx) signal in the antenna front end was verified by implementing and testing the reconfigurable coupler at 917 MHz for UHF radio-frequency identification (RFID) applications. The proposed reconfigurable directional coupler showed an improvement in the isolation characteristics of more than 20 dB at the operation frequency band. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ⓒ

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