Efficient reconfigurable antennas are highly sought after in all communication applications for the ability to reduce space cost while maintaining the ability to control the frequency, gain, and polarization. The ability to control these parameters allows a single antenna to maximize its performance in a wide range of scenarios to satisfy changing operating requirements. This thesis will describe reconfigurable antennas using liquid-metal alloys that give the system this ability by injecting or retracting the liquid metal from various channels. After simulations were performed in an electromagnetic simulation software, proof-of-concept models were built, tested, and compared to the simulations to verify the results. / Master of Science / Antennas that can change the tuned center frequency and/or the direction they are pointing are needed in many different applications. Antenna adaptability allows the system to maximize the physical dimensions of the antenna to satisfy a wide range of situations without losing performance. This thesis describes antennas using a liquid-metal alloy that can make physical adaptations for the need at hand. After simulations were performed using computer software, proof-of-concept models were constructed and empirically validated to verify the simulation models.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/78007 |
| Date | 09 June 2017 |
| Creators | Thews, Jonathan Tyler |
| Contributors | Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michaels, Alan J., Brown, Gary S., Hendricks, Robert Wayne, Davis, William A. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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