TUMESA - MEMS tuneable metamaterials for smart wireless applications

This paper describes the main results of the EU FP7 project TUMESA - MEMS tuneable metamaterials for smart wireless applications. In this project, we studied several reconfigurable antenna approaches that combine the new technology of MEMS with the new concept of artificial electromagnetic materials and surfaces (metamaterials and metasurfaces) for realisation of millimetre wave phase shifters and beam-steering devices. MEMS technology allows to miniaturise electronic components, reduce their cost in batch production, and effectively compete with semiconductor and ferroelectric based technologies in terms of losses at millimetre wavelengths. Novel tuneable materials and components proposed in this project perform as smart beam steering devices. Fabricated with MEMS technology in batch and on a single chip, proposed tuneable devices allow substituting of larger and more complex sub-system of, e.g., a radar sensor. This substitution provides a dramatic cost reduction on a system level.