Prototype of a chip-scale RF signal
processor with 3D-printed antenna arrays for antenna-in-structure or wearable
wireless systems.
Washington
State University-led researchers have developed a chip-sized processor and 3D
printed antenna arrays that could someday lead to flexible and wearable
wireless systems and improved electronic communications in a wide variety of
auto, aviation, and space industry applications.
Reporting in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers used 3D printing, the processor, and
an ink made from copper nanoparticles to create the flexible antenna arrays.
"This proof-of-concept prototype
paves the way for future smart textiles, drone or aircraft communications, edge
sensing, and other rapidly evolving fields that require robust, flexible, and
high-performance wireless systems," said Sreeni Poolakkal, co-first author
on the paper and a Ph.D. student in WSU's School of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science.
Industries such as aviation and the auto industry would like to be able to use 3D-printed
flexible, or conformal, antenna arrays because they could be lighter, smaller,
and more flexible than traditional antenna arrays. So, for instance, a drone
could be fitted with a layer of antennas.
Because of their materials and the way
they're made, however, flexible wireless systems have been too expensive to
make and haven't performed as well as standard antenna arrays. When they move
and bend, such as in wearable electronics or when an airplane wing is
vibrating, the antennas change shape, causing errors in their signals.
Credit: WSU
The
WSU-led team used 3D printing and an ink made from copper nanoparticles to
create antennas that remain stable when they are bent or exposed to high humidity, temperature variations, and salt. The team's
collaborators from the University of Maryland and Boeing developed the copper
nanoparticle-based ink.
"The ink is a very important part
in additive, or 3D printing," said Subhanshu Gupta, associate professor in
the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a co-author
on the work.
"The nanoparticle-based ink
developed by our collaborators is actually very powerful in improving the
performance for high-end communication circuits like what we're doing."
Because precision wireless communication
needs significant fidelity, the researchers also developed a processor chip
that can correct errant signals from the antenna in real time.
Credit: WSU
"We used this processor that
we developed to correct for these material deformities in the 3D printed
antenna, and it also corrects for any vibrations that we see," said Gupta.
"The ability to do that in
real time makes it very attractive. We were able to achieve robust, real-time
beam stabilization for the arrays, something that was not possible
before."
The researchers built and tested a
lightweight, flexible array of four antennas that were able to send and receive
signals successfully when the antennas were moving and bending.
The small antennas use low power
and can easily be scaled, making them ideal for implementation on devices.
Because they're built as tiles, the array design enables building larger arrays, and
individual processor chips on each of the tiles operate independently, said
Gupta.
The researchers were able to put
together four of the antenna arrays to make 16 total antennas.
Credit: WSUby Washington State University
edited
by Sadie
Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin
Source: Researchers
develop 3D printed antenna arrays for flexible wireless systems
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