The future proliferation of truly high-speed wireless systems will require more functionality from antennas than can be provided by classic designs. One approach to this challenge is to develop reconfigurable antennas. The goal of a reconfigurable radiator - one that can adjust its operating frequency, bandwidth, and/or radiation pattern to accommodate changing requirements - poses significant challenges to both antenna and system designers. This paper highlights some of the recent advances in the area of antenna reconfiguration, at the University of Illinois and elsewhere, as well as discusses some of the barriers that still need to be overcome to arrive at realizable technologies. These barriers include the development of reliable, mass-manufacturable RF MEMS switches, the design of switch bias networks that will not interfere with antenna operation, and the expansion of signal processing and feedback algorithms to fully exploit this new antenna functionality.

Date Published: 22 July 2003
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 5055, Smart Structures and Materials 2003: Smart Electronics, MEMS, BioMEMS, and Nanotechnology, (22 July 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.497433

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5055:
Smart Structures and Materials 2003: Smart Electronics, MEMS, BioMEMS, and Nanotechnology
Vijay K. Varadan; Laszlo B. Kish, Editor(s)