The conical conformal MEMS quasi-end-fire array antenna

Abstract

The microelectromechanical system (MEMS) quasi-end-fire array antenna based on a liquid crystal polymer (LCP) substrate is designed and fabricated in this paper. The maximum radiation direction of the antenna tends to the cone axis forming an angle less than 90 • , which satisfies the proximity detection system applied at the forward target detection. Furthermore, the proposed antenna is fed at the ended side in order to save internal space. Moreover, the proposed antenna takes small covering area of the proximity detection system. The proposed antenna is fabricated by using the flexible MEMS process, and the measurement results agree well with the simulation results. This is the first time that a conical conformal array antenna is fabricated by the flexible MEMS process to realize the quasi-end-fire radiation. A pair of conformal MEMS array antennas resonates at 14.2 GHz with its mainlobes tending to the cone axis forming a 30 • angle and a 31 • angle separately, and the gains achieved are 1.82 dB in two directions, respectively. The proposed antenna meets the performance requirements for the proximity detection system which has vast application prospects.

Recent Advances in Flexible RF MEMS

“…At present, some progress has been made in the research of various functional flexible RF MEMS, mainly in flexible RF MEMS switches [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ], phase shifters [ 76 , 77 , 78 ], reconfigurable antennas [ 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 ] and phased array antennas [ 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 ] based on them, in MEMS resonators [ 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , …”

“…At present, some progress has been made in the research of various functional flexible RF MEMS, mainly in flexible RF MEMS switches , phase shifters [76][77][78], reconfigurable antennas [78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85][86] and phased array antennas [87][88][89][90] based on them, in MEMS resonators [91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102][103], frequency selective hyper surfaces [104], etc.…”

An Efficient Conformal Stacked Antenna Array Design and 3D-Beamforming for UAV and Space Vehicle Communications

“…In addition, the very long distance spanned by space vehicles, such as those travelling to Mars, requires high gain and efficient adaptive conformal antennas to ensure high quality of the communication link. Several conformal antenna array structures have been proposed in the literature [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], where most of them are fabricated in the form of microstrip patch antennas printed on a conical surface [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ] or slotted cylindrical and conical structures [ 15 , 16 ]. For example, in [ 17 ], a conical array was designed for radar applications using genetic algorithm to reduce sidelobe levels.…”