Novel reconfigurable antennas using Liquid Crystals Elastomers

In this paper, normal and axial mode reconfigurable antennas are considered. Shape memory polymer actuators called Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) are used to dynamically change antennas. Specifically, a controlled heat source is utilized to the geometry of antennas. The proposed antennas were fabricated to fixed states to allow measurements to be performed and illustrate the antenna reconfigurability between normal and axial mode. Measurements are compared with simulations.