We report on the full-wave analyses of a frequency reconfigurable antenna integrated with metallic nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) switches (length ¼ 3 lm, width ¼ 60 nm). The NEMS switch used in this work has the same architecture with low voltage, double-arm cantilever-type metallic DC-contact microelectromechanical system (MEMS) switch recently developed in author's group. The microfabrication and characterization of the MEMS switch have also been given in this article.
The design, fabrication, and characterization of a frequency reconfigurable antenna for the United States Public Safety (PS) wireless communication applications are presented. This antenna is quad band operating in the PS bands -220, 470, 800, and 4960 MHz. It is an electrically small antenna with calculated ka ~ 0.55 at 220 MHz. The antenna has two reconfigurable modes of operations. In mode 1, 220, 470 and 4960 MHz bands are excited. Mode 2 provides operation over 800 and 4960 MHz bands. This dynamic frequency reconfiguration is accomplished by two radio frequency microelectromechanical systems switches strategically located within the antenna architecture. The measured and simulated results for impedance and radiation characteristics agree well, where, ~3%, 4%, 21%, and 17% fractional bandwidths have been measured in the four bands respectively, while maintaining integrity of radiation pattern.Index Terms-Frequency-reconfigurable antennas (FRAs), multi-layered antennas, broad-band antennas, multi-band antennas, UHF antennas, electrically small antennas, antenna measurements, antenna radiation patterns
We present a novel antenna reconfiguration mechanism relying on electrowetting based digital microfluidics to implement a frequency reconfigurable antenna operating in the X-band. The antenna built on a quartz substrate (εr = 3.9, tan δ = 0.0002) is a coplanar waveguide fed annular slot antenna, which is monolithically integrated with a microfluidic chip. This chip establishes an electrowetting on dielectric platform with a mercury droplet placed in it. The base contact area of the mercury droplet can be spread out by electrostatic actuation resulting in a change of loading capacitance. This in turn changes the resonant frequency of the antenna enabling a reversible reconfigurable impedance property. This reconfigurable antenna has been designed, fabricated and measured. The frequency of operation is tuned from around 11 GHz to 13 GHz as demonstrated by simulations and measurements. The design methodology, fabrication processes and the experimental results are given and discussed.
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