A Physically Reconfigurable 1× 8 Monolithic Thick Origami Array

This paper presents a 1×8 monolithic thick origami antenna array. The proposed design dynamically adjusts its radiation pattern through foldability, without the need of any additional phase shifters in its feeding network. Depending on its folded state, the array can cover different regions in space by switching from a single beam at broadside, to two beams at θ = ±45°, and four beams at θ = ±45°, ±135°. The foldability of the design is implemented using three lamina emergent torsional joint surrogate hinges. These hinges allow the array to physically reconfigure to different folded states and pack itself efficiently to an area that is four times smaller than its deployed area. For demonstration purposes our proposed array is designed to operate at 2.45 GHz using a single 1.55 mm thick FR4 substrate.