A Conformal, Dynamic Pattern-Reconfigurable Antenna Using Conductive Textile-Polymer Composite

Abstract

A conformal antenna with electronically tuning capability of its radiation pattern between broadside and monopolelike patterns is proposed. The antenna is based on a proximityfed circular patch, loaded with a ring patch and four rectangular slots. The design is planar without any use of rigid shorting posts or complex feeding network. The reconfigurability is achieved by activating and deactivating the slots using PIN diodes, to switch between TM02 (monopole-like mode) and perturbed TM02 distributions (broadside mode) of the antenna. For conformability, the antenna is fabricated using highly flexible PDMSconductive fabric composite. All the antenna parts, including the RF switches, wires, and DC biasing circuit are fully encapsulated by PDMS to provide resilience against deformation and harsh environment. Investigations on the RF performance and mechanical stability of the antenna were conducted. Under various bendings, it was demonstrated that all the antenna components, including those for electronic switching, remained intact and in working order even under radius bending of 30 mm, thus maintaining good pattern reconfigurability and overall performance. When bent, the measured results at 5.2 GHz show a stable radiation performance relative to those of the flat case (i.e., maximum gain of 2.9 dBi and efficiency of 64% in broadside mode, corresponding to 1.75 dBi and 52% in monopole-like mode). To the best of our knowledge, all these features have never been demonstrated in previously published pattern reconfigurable antennas.

The Design of a Wideband Antenna with Notching Characteristics for Small Devices Using a Genetic Algorithm

“…Therefore, these types of antennas cannot be used for small physical devices. Recently, several researchers utilized multiple rings arranged concentrically around the antenna to design wideband antennas with monopole-like radiation characteristics [12,13]. These antennas can be used for on-body applications due to the fully backed ground plane.…”

Flexible and Transparent Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna for Reliable Unobtrusive Wearable Wireless Communications

“…This feature exhibits manufacturing flexibility and a simple method of maintaining accuracy. In principle, the antenna fabrication procedure is similar to our previously demonstrated works in [ 7 , 40 , 43 ]. The major difference is that, in this work, the conductive fabrics were patterned using a cutting machine, rather than through a manual cutting process with a razor blade.…”

Application of Machine Learning in Electromagnetics: Mini-Review

“…Reconfigurability in antenna can be achieved through different mechanisms such as electrical, optical, physical, and/or material changes [97][98][99][100][101]. ML has become popular with reconfigurable antennas, specifically frequency-reconfigurable ones [102,103].…”