Shape-Changing Antenna Enables More Versatile Sensing and Wide-Range Communication

Mit researchers have developed a reconfigurable antenna that dynamically adjusts its frequency range by changing its physical shape, making it more versatile for communications and sensing thana static antennas.

A user can stretch, bend, or compress the antenna to make revered changes to its radiation properties, enabling a device to operate in a wider frequency range without the Need for Complex, Moving Parts. With an adjustable frequency range, a reconfigurable antenna count adapt to changing environmental conditions and reduce the need for multiple antennas.

The word “antenna” may draw draw to mind metal rods like the “bunny ears” on top of old television sets, but the mit team instead worked with metamaterials -enginered materials with mechanical proteases, As Staffness and Strength, Depend on the Geometric Arrangement of the Material’s Components.

The result is a simplified design for a reconfigurable antenna that could be used for applications like energy transfer in wearable devices, motion tracking and Sensing for Augmented Reality, Or Communication Across a Wide Range of Network Protocols.

In addition, the resultars developed an editing tool so users can generate customized metamaterial antennas, which can be fabricated using a laser cutter.

“Usually, when we think of antennas, we think of static antennas -thee are fabricated to have specific properties and that is itver, by using auxatic metamaterials, by using auxatic metamaterial Different Geometric States, We Can Seamlessly Change The Properties of the antenna by changing its geometry, with fabricating at new structure.

“In addition, we can use changes in the antenna’s radio frequency properties, due to changes in the metamaterial geometry, as a new method of sensing for interaction,” Says Lead Author Marwa Allawi, A Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student at Mit.

Her Co-Authors Include Regina Zheng and Katherine Yan, Both Mit Undergraduate Students; Ticha sethapakdi, an mit graduate student in election engineering and computer science; Sooo Yeon Ahn of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea; And Co-Senior Authors Junyi Zhu, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan; And Stefanie Mueller, The Tibco Career Development Associate Professor in Mit’s Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and Leader of the Human-Computer Interacter Group at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab.

The research Will be presented at the acM symposium on user interface software and technology (Uist 2025), Held in Busan, Korea, September 28 – OCTOBER 1.

Making sense of antennas

While Traditional Antennas Radiate and Receive radio signals, in this work, the researchers looked at how the devices can act as sensors. The team’s goal was to develop a mechanical element that can also be used as an antenna for sensing.

To do this, they were leveraged the antenna’s “Resonance frequency,” which is the frequency at which the antenna is most efficient.

An antenna’s resonance frequency will shift due to changes in its shape. (Think About Extending The Left “Bunny Ear” to Reduce TV Static.) Researchers can capture these shifts for sensing. For institution, a reconfigurable antenna could be used in this way to detect the expansion of a person’s chest, to monitor their respiration.

To design a versatile reconfigurable antenna, the reserchers used metamaterials. These Engineered Materials, which can be programmed to adopt different shapes, are composed of a periodic arrangement of unit cells that can be rotated, compressed, stretched, stretched, or bent.

By deforming the metamaterial structure, one can shift the antenna’s resonance frequency.

“In order to trigger changes in Resonance Frequency, We Eiter Need to Change the antenna’s effective length or introduce slits and holes into it. It. Only one structure, “Alalawi says.

The device, dubbed the meta-ear, is composed of a dielectric layer of Material Sandwiched Between Two Conductive Layers.

To fabricate a me meta-ear, the reserchers cut the dielectric laser out of a rubber sheet with a laser cutter. Then they added a patch on top of the Dielectric Layer Using Conductive Spray Paint, Creating a Resonating “Patch antenna.”

But they found that even the most flexible conductive material could be with the amount of definition of definition the antenna would experience.

“We did a lot of trial and error to determine that, if we coat the structure with flexible acrylic pain, it protects the hinges so they do’t break prematurely,” Allawi explains.

A means for makers

With the fabrication problem solved, the researchrs built a tool that enables users to design and produce metamaterial antennas for specific applications.

The user can define the size of the antenna patch, choose a thickness for the dielectric layer, and set the length to width ratio of the metamaterial unit cells. Then the system automatically simulates the antenna’s resonance frequency range.

“The beauty of metamaterials is that, it is an interconnected system of linkages, the geometric structure allows us to reduce the complexity of a mechanical system,” Allawi Says.

Using the Design Tool, The Researchers Incorporated Meta-Ansnas Into Several Smart devices, Including a Curtain that dynamically adjusts house-lighting and headphones that are the tests Noise-Concelling and Transparent Modes.

For the Smart Headphones, for instance, when the meta-iron expands and bends, it shifts the resonance frequency by 2.6%, which switches the headphone mode. The team’s Experiences also showed that meta-Anna Structures Are Durable Enough to Withstand More Thans 10,000 compressions.

Being the antenna patch can be patterned on Surface, it could be used with more complex structures. For institution, the antenna also be incorporated Into Smart Textiles That Perform Noninvasive Biomedical Sensing or Temperature monitoring.

In the future, the researchers want to design three-dimensional meta-Annaas for a wider range of applications. They also want to add more functions to the design, improve the durability and flexibility of the metamaterial structure, expert with different symmetric metapperns, and streamline some manual fatterns Steps.

This story is republished courtesy of mit news (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about mit research, innovation and teaching.