A Microfluidically Reconfigurable Dual-Band Slot Antenna With a Frequency Coverage Ratio of 3:1

Reconfiguration of filled and empty microchannels is used to realize a switchable dual-band slot antenna whose both bands can be controlled independently. Reactive loading effect of Galinstan bridges is used to shift down each slot antenna's frequency of operation. Using five microchannels results in a 5-bit reconfigurable antenna. Any combination of frequencies within the ranges of 1.8-3.1 GHz (first band) and 3.2-5.4 GHz (second band) can be obtained. This translates into a discrete tuning ratio of ~ 1.7:1 for both bands and overall ratio of 3:1 (1.8-5.4 GHz) for the antenna. The antenna circuit board is realized using common printed circuit board (PCB) techniques, and the microchannels' polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate is fabricated using 3-D printing technologies. The circuit board and the PDMS substrates are bonded to each other using a thin layer of spin-coated PDMS. The performance of the antenna is measured, and close agreement between the simulation and measurement is observed.