A 3-D Printed Fully Transparent Liquid Antenna for Future Vehicular Networks

A novel optically transparent (OT) 3-D printed liquid antenna is proposed for mm-waves vehicular networks. The antenna is comprised of a resin container, ionic liquids, and a transparent conductive film (TCF). The high-order mode excitation of the antenna can expand its bandwidth and enhance its directivity. Meanwhile, a cone-shaped director is introduced, which not only improves the impedance matching performance but also enhances the radiation gain. The TCF can be equivalent to the metallic ground, which can increase the antenna transparency while maintaining a high gain. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated results, which demonstrated that the proposed antenna has achieved a wide bandwidth from 13.2 GHz to 17.4 GHz, with a maximum gain of 17.59 dBi. By installing a transparent antenna on the roof of a car, the signal reception quality can be improved while also blending seamlessly into the environment. The proposed antenna has enough potential to redefine trendy applications including future vehicular networks.