Session
Technical Session XI: Mission Enabling Technologies 2
Abstract
Multipath wireless communication can increase system-level demands on antenna radiation behavior, impedance matching, and bandwidth requirements. Research with the Space Engineering Institute at Texas A&M University has developed a novel antenna polarization reconfiguration system using nanoparticle dispersions. Potential applications encompass space and military missions operating in harsh physical and electromagnetic surroundings, multiple input and output (MIMO) systems, and cognitive radios. This paper will discuss the design, fabrication, and reconfigurable performance of a single crossed-dipole microstrip antenna with pressure-driven and electrokinetic manipulation of nanoparticle dispersions. Appropriately positioned gaps, on the crossed dipole, manage the frequency and antenna polarization diversity. Analytical, simulated, and measured impedance, VSWR, and radiation behavior results will be provided for an S-band design. These results are extended to consider the dielectrophoretic effects on the dispersion from a low-frequency applied bias (up to 1 MHz) to change nanoparticle dispersions from random homogeneous to quasi-ordered anisotropic dispersions changing the gap loading.
Presentation Slides
Switchable Antenna Polarization using Surface-Integrated Fluidic Loading Mechanisms
Multipath wireless communication can increase system-level demands on antenna radiation behavior, impedance matching, and bandwidth requirements. Research with the Space Engineering Institute at Texas A&M University has developed a novel antenna polarization reconfiguration system using nanoparticle dispersions. Potential applications encompass space and military missions operating in harsh physical and electromagnetic surroundings, multiple input and output (MIMO) systems, and cognitive radios. This paper will discuss the design, fabrication, and reconfigurable performance of a single crossed-dipole microstrip antenna with pressure-driven and electrokinetic manipulation of nanoparticle dispersions. Appropriately positioned gaps, on the crossed dipole, manage the frequency and antenna polarization diversity. Analytical, simulated, and measured impedance, VSWR, and radiation behavior results will be provided for an S-band design. These results are extended to consider the dielectrophoretic effects on the dispersion from a low-frequency applied bias (up to 1 MHz) to change nanoparticle dispersions from random homogeneous to quasi-ordered anisotropic dispersions changing the gap loading.
