Reconfigurable bowtie antenna using a nematic liquid crystal

Conference item

Design, simulation, fabrication, and measurement of a reconfigurable bowtie antenna operating at 2 GHz and featuring a nematic liquid crystal (LC), with controllable frequency response in a continuous range, are reported in this paper. The bowtie elements are printed onto two separate and overlapping substrates, each fed with a microstrip network, with LC infiltrated between the substrates. An external heat source is used to control the dielectric permittivity of the LC and alter the operation frequency of the antenna. The ability to reconfigure the bowtie across a continuous range of 21 MHz with a reduction in antenna efficiency of 11\% is practically demonstrated. Additional modelling, employed in conjunction with data on two alternate LC mixtures suggest a continuously reconfigurable frequency range of 30 MHz without altering antenna performance, and a range of 85 MHz with a 6\% reduction in antenna efficiency, can be achieved.

Authors: Mee, B; Morris, S; Coon, J; Elston, S; Stevens, C

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IEEE
• Host title: Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements and Applications (CAMA 2023)
• Pages: 507-512
• Publication date: 2023-12-19
• Acceptance date: 2023-08-01
• Event title: IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements and Applications (CAMA 2023)
• Event location: Genoa, Italy
• Event website: https://2023ieeecama.org/
• Event start date: 2023-11-15
• Event end date: 2023-11-17
• DOI: 10.1109/CAMA57522.2023.10352709
• EISSN: 2643-6795
• ISSN: 2474-1760
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR