A flexible 2.4 GHz microstrip patch antenna using a 3-D printed tile array design

This paper presents the design of a flexible 3-D printed microstrip patch antenna (MPA) which shows stable RF performance with curvature. The substrate's unique design is based on tiles consisting of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) that are surrounded with flexible NinjaFlex. When these tiles are assembled together in an array, a flexible substrate with improved RF properties is realized. The resonant frequency achieved is 2.305 GHz with a bandwidth of 0.12 GHz (5.21%). When the antenna is flexed downwards, there is minimal impact on the RF performance, the resonant frequency shifts slightly upwards to 2.365 GHz (60 MHz) and the bandwidth is 0.135 GHz (5.71%). This flexible substrate design approach using an array of puzzle tiles is scalable and can be implemented in a variety of RF design applications for flexibility.