Title :
An electrically-small, 3-D cube antenna fabricated with additive manufacturing
Author :
Nassar, Ibrahim T. ; Weller, Thomas M.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
Abstract :
This paper presents the design of an electrically small, 3-D cube antenna that is fabricated using laser-based layer-by-layer stereolithography processing (SLA). The antenna consists of a balun and a half-wave dipole with meandered-line portions, all of which are patterned on the surface of a cube. The antenna operational frequency is 2.45 GHz and its measured 10 dB return loss bandwidth is 3.75%. Ka of the proposed design is 0.73 and its measured gain is -0.5 dBi. The gain is decreased by 2.5 dB compared with a previous prototype made with printed circuit board (PCB) technology using a commercial microwave substrate. However, the SLA fabrication approach significantly improves the manufacturing repeatability.
Keywords :
UHF antennas; baluns; dipole antennas; printed circuits; stereolithography; wireless sensor networks; PCB technology; SLA fabrication approach; additive manufacturing; antenna operational frequency; commercial microwave substrate; electrically-small 3-D cube antenna; frequency 2.45 GHz; gain 2.5 dB; half-wave dipole; laser-based layer-by-layer stereolithography processing; loss 10 dB; manufacturing repeatability; meandered-line portions; passive wireless sensor node; printed circuit board technology; return loss bandwidth; Antenna measurements; Dipole antennas; Gain; Materials; Stereolithography; Wireless sensor networks; 3-D antennas; Electrically small antennas; stereolithography; wireless sensor networks (WSNs);
Conference_Titel :
Biomedical Wireless Technologies, Networks, and Sensing Systems (BioWireleSS), 2013 IEEE Topical Conference on
Conference_Location :
Austin, TX
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-2930-9
DOI :
10.1109/BioWireleSS.2013.6613683
