A microfluidically-switched CPW folded slot antenna

Author

Pourghorban Saghati, Ali ; Batra, Jaskirat ; Kameoka, Jun ; Entesari, Kamran

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Texas A&M Univ., College Station, TX, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

6-11 July 2014

Firstpage

557

Lastpage

558

Abstract

A microfluidically-switched CPW folded slot antenna is proposed. The switching technique is based on employing the capacitive loading effect of two fluid metal channels placed on top of the CPW slot antenna. By filling the channels with Galinstan, the antenna is reactively loaded and as a result the resonant frequency of the antenna is reduced. Implementation of the microfluidically-switched antenna is realized using the common PCB techniques and PDMS structures. The PDMS structures including the micro-channels are bonded to the circuit board using a very thin layer of spin-coated PDMS employed as the bonding layer. A frequency switching ratio (f_TR=f₂/f₁) of more than an octave (2.6-5.5 GHz) is obtained for the proposed antenna. The antenna shows similar radiation pattern with high purity (Co- to Cross polarization level > 15dB) for both frequency bands.

Keywords

UHF antennas; coplanar waveguides; microfluidics; slot antennas; waveguide antennas; Galinstan; PCB techniques; PDMS structures; antenna radiation pattern; microfluidically-switched CPW folded slot antenna; switching technique; Antenna measurements; Coplanar waveguides; Loaded antennas; Metals; Resonant frequency; Slot antennas;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium (APSURSI), 2014 IEEE

Conference_Location

Memphis, TN

ISSN

1522-3965

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-3538-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APS.2014.6904609

Filename

6904609