Flexible bow-tie antennas

The Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University (ASU) was founded in 2004 as a partnership between academia, industry, and government to collaborate on the development of a new generation of innovative displays and electronic circuits that are flexible, lightweight, low power, and rugged [1]. Due to the increasing need for flexible and lightweight electronic systems, FDC aims to develop materials and structural platforms that allow flexible backplane electronics to be integrated with display components that are economical for mass-production [2]. Currently, FDC is focusing on the incorporation of antenna structures, which can function cooperatively with the other flexible circuit elements. Design of flexible antennas, as a part of flexible electronic circuits, may have a very wide spectrum of applications in military and civilian wireless communication, which can allow people to wear antenna structures instead of carry them. Hence, flexible and fluidic antennas have a great potential [3]. In this paper, the design, fabrication, simulation and measurements of a bow-tie antenna with a flexible substrate is discussed. The antenna is modeled and simulated with Ansoft HFSS, and the simulations are compared with measurements performed in the Electromagnetic Anechoic Chamber (EMAC) at ASU.