Deformable Liquid Metal Patch Antenna for Air Pressure Detection
IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL
Authors: Low, Jen-Hahn; Chee, Pei-Song; Lim, Eng-Hock
Abstract
For the first time, a deformable liquid metal patch, which is loaded with an air cavity underneath, is proposed for designing an air pressure-detecting antenna. Both the liquid metal (EGaIn) and air cavity of the antenna structure are constructed inside a soft and deformable polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. Since liquid metal is highly dense, a PDMS pillar is tactfully embedded into the air cavity region for supporting the liquid patch. Due to the use of such structural support, the liquid metal patch can now be made into one whole piece and it does not cause the antenna structure to collapse. The proposed antenna structure does not require the use of microfluidic channels, which usually compromise the radiation performances, for designing the liquid metal patch. As a result, it is able to attain a high antenna gain of 8.02 dBi. The existence of the air cavity has been proven to be crucial for making the antenna structure deformable so that it is useable for detecting ambient air pressure.
Compact conformal wide band antenna for high-speed WLAN applications
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RF AND MICROWAVE COMPUTER-AIDED ENGINEERING
Authors: Jin, Ronghao; Cai, Zhanghua; Dong, Mengyao; Luo, Yunlong; Yang, Yang; Qi, Yihong
Abstract
This article proposes a compact conformal wideband WiFi antenna based on a wide bandwidth, high-efficiency electromagnetic radiation structure (WHEMS). The concept of the equivalent current model for the WHEMS wideband antenna is described, and an example of a triband WiFi antenna covering 2.4, 5.2, and 5.8 GHz is illustrated. Miniaturization is achieved by cutting the symmetrical structure into half from the original WHEMS model, and wider beam coverage is also obtained. At the same time, the antenna is bent to be conformal with the router system shell and heat sinks, making the antenna more compact. A real award-winning model of a triband mesh WiFi device applying the proposed antenna is shown and tested. The antenna is integrated into a vertically positioned printed circuit board and coexists with a heat sink. The antenna concept and theory, in addition to the simulated and measured results, are provided. The measured | S11 | is lower than -10 dB in the designed wideband (2.4 similar to 2.5 GHz, 5.15 similar to 5.4 GHz, and 5.45 similar to 5.85 GHz). The measured gain at low frequency is about 3 dBi, and the measured gain at high frequency is about 5 similar to 6 dBi. The measured efficiency of the antenna is about 50% to 60%.