The fabrication of a patch antenna using low-cost 3D printing equipment is presented. A circular polarised (CP) patch antenna is manufactured by combining inkjet printing and stereolithography (SLA) technology. The substrate has been fabricated by curing photosensitive resin while the patch element of the antenna has been inkjet printed using silver ink. The printed antenna satisfies the required reflection coefficient, axial ratio and radiation pattern at 1575 MHz. The aim is to demonstrate an inexpensive technology that could be used for the fabrication of antennas on customised 3D printed substrates. The performance of the antenna is summarised through simulations and experimental results.Introduction: Metal etching and subtractive processes are the most common methods employed for the fabrication of antennas and microwave devices. Recently, there has been an increasing research interest in applying additive manufacturing (AM) One of the problems of FDM substrates is the roughness of the external surfaces which limits the metallic layers to thicker, paste based metallic materials. SLA substrates, on the other hand, provide smoother surfaces which can be an advantage when fabricating with other metallic layer deposition processes such as inkjet printing. Inkjet printing has been demonstrated for the fabrication of antennas on various substrates such as paper [6] and textiles [7]. This letter describes the use of inkjet printing technology for the fabrication of a patch antenna on a 3D printed substrate. A circularly polarised (CP) patch antenna has been fabricated using a combination of stereolithography and inkjet printing technology, both of which methods have used inexpensive machines. As CP patch antennas are created by slightly modifying the shapes of the radiators, they are particularly suitable for the assessment of the fabrication process. Circularly polarised antennas have applications in satellite communications technologies such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). CST Microwave Studio TM has been used for the antenna design and simulations. The goal of this work is to demonstrate a simple and low cost fabrication method which can be used for prototyping, and custom antenna development.[
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A multi-band antenna suitable for Long-term Evolution (LTE) is inkjet-printed, and then folded around a cylindrical form. The plastic cylinder is also printed using additive manufacturing techniques, as a separate process. The antenna is based on a planar wideband monopole radiator concept with an additional resonator for the LTE700 frequency band. The aim is to study the potential of low-cost additive manufacturing (AM) techniques for the development of vehicular antennas. Two antennas have been fabricated, one on paper substrate, and a second on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The one on paper is tested as a planar monopole antenna on a large ground plane. The one printed on PET is shaped onto the cylindrical form. The main aim is to investigate the use of low-cost inkjet printing techniques for the fabrication of disposable vehicular antennas that can be upgraded regularly. The antennas successfully operate at all LTE and mobile frequency bands. Finite different time domain simulations compare well with measurements.
Abstract-A dual band antenna is inkjet-printed and then folded as part of a paper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The patterns of the antenna are reproduced on a standard photo paper substrate using an off the shelf inkjet printer. Readily available cartridges with nanoparticle silver conductive ink are employed. A single-layer planar antenna is fed by coplanar waveguide (CPW). The geometry of the radiating element consists of a semicircle with a centered square slot. In order to examine the effect of bending on performance, the antenna is tested unfolded and then folded when integrated onto the airplane. Two configurations of the folded antenna on the plane are analyzed. The aim is to investigate the feasibility of fabricating foldable antennas for paper airplanes using low-cost inkjet printing techniques. The antenna operates at the existing 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz WLAN bands. Finite different time domain simulations compare well with measurement.
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