A Packable and Reconfigurable Origami Antenna for Extended Mobile Range

Graduate #90
Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Electrical Engineering
Session: 2
Room: Marriott Balcony B

Gian Carrara - Florida International University
Co-Author(s): Ricardo Sendrea, Nicholas E. Russo, Constantinos L. Zekios, Stavros V. Georgakopoulos, Florida International University, FL

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Civilian and military personnel require deployable and reconfigurable antennas for reliable long-range communications. Unfortunately, these antennas are typically difficult to carry and move due to their large physical size. Origami antennas have been recently introduced to provide designs that can be efficiently stowed and effortlessly deployed [1]. This work focuses on the development of a reconfigurable origami antenna with optimal gain, which operates in the extended mobile range band (698 MHz-806 MHz). To make our antenna easily packable, the Tachi-Miura origami bellow pattern is used, [2]. This origami design is constructed by placing the antenna elements on thick dielectric panels. Also, our Tachi-Miura antenna can adjust its height thereby changing the inter-element spacing and reconfiguring its performance. To cover the targeted frequency band and provide the desired high gain, a Yagi-Uda antenna design is used, [3]. The proposed origami antenna is electromagnetically analyzed and optimized using the ANSYS HFSS simulation software. Based on our results, a 6-element antenna is optimal and it is comprised of one driven element, one reflector and four directors. Our prototype is built using cardboard to construct the rigid origami facets using the fabrication method described in [4]. Our origami antenna exhibits a packing efficiency of 87% and a peak realized gain of 8.3 dB. Future research will investigate different antenna designs mounted onto the Tachi-Miura bellow structure and the effects of non-uniform inter-element spacing. References: [1] X. Liu, et al., “Analysis of a Packable and Tunable Origami Multi-Radii Helical Antenna,” in IEEE Access, vol.7, pp. 13003-13014, 2019. [2] M. Schenk and S. D. Guest, “Geometry of Miura-folded metamaterials,” National Academy of Sciences, vol. 110, no. 9, 2013. [3] C. Balanis, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, Third Ed., NJ: John Wiley, 2005. [4] C. L. Zekios, X. Liu, X., M. Moshtaghzadeh, E. Izadpanahi, H. R. Radnezhad, P. Mardanpour, P., and S. V. Georgakopoulos, “Electromagnetic and Mechanical Analysis of an Origami Helical Antenna Encapsulated by Fabric,” International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE2019, Aug. 18-21, 2019.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant EFRI 1332348 (which includes a REM grant), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under grant FA9550-18-1-0191 and the Florida International University Presidential Fellowship.

Faculty Advisor: Stavros V. Georgakopoulos, georgako@fiu.edu

Role: I worked on the development and fabrication of the antenna.