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Title: Additively Manufactured Origami-inspired "4D" RF Structures with On-demand Continuous-range Tunability
Committee:
Dr. Tentzeris, Advisor
Dr. Peterson, Chair
Dr. Durgin
Abstract:
The objective of the proposed research is to use origami-inspired RF structures to address some of the key bottlenecks of traditional tunable RF structures that include availability of continuous power supply, complex and laborious manufacturing process and narrow tunability range. However, realization of these structures requires implementation of truly flexible conductive traces and an in-depth analysis of their electromagnetic behavior with origami kinematics. The work presents first-of-its-kind methodology to realize truly flexible conductive traces that maintain good electrical and RF properties during bending or folding process. This is achieved by taking advantage of material properties of porous substrates such as paper and introducing "bridge-like" structures that release mechanical stress of conductive trace along the foldline. Moreover, novel RF structures are presented that share many similarities in terms of modeling and structural behavior with origami tessellations - the building blocks of any origami structure. Thereby, establishing for-the-first-time key relationships between change in electromagnetic behavior of RF structures with origami kinematics. These relationship would facilitate realization of a wide variety of smart, reconfigurable and deployable RF structures for terrestrial, outer-space and biomedical applications that can tune their electromagnetic behavior on-demand in response to external stimuli while consuming minimum power.
