Meta-antenna: Mechanically Frequency Reconfigurable Metamaterial Antennas

Abstract

We introduce Meta-antenna, a design and fabrication pipeline for creating frequency reconfigurable antennas while making use of a single type of mechanical metamaterial structure. Unlike traditional static antenna systems with fixed radiation patterns and frequency responses per geometry, Meta-antenna leverages mechanical reconfiguration to alter the radiation and geometry characteristics of the antenna, making it more versatile for sensing and communication. Meta-antenna provides a design space of resonance frequency from 500 MHz to 6.3 GHz (≥ 10dB) upon the structure’s compression, bending, or rotation. Additionally, we provide an Ansys-based editor that allows users to generate metamaterial antenna geometries and simulate their resonance frequency. We also provide a code template for Meta-antenna based sensing interactions. Our technical evaluation demonstrates that our fabricated Meta-antenna structures remain functional even after 10,000 compression cycles. Finally, we contribute three example applications showcasing Meta-antenna’s potential in adaptive personal devices, smart home systems, and tangible user interfaces.