RF-N/MEMS integrated reconfigurable antenna for public safety applications

We have presented the design and full-wave analyses of a frequency reconfigurable antenna in response to public safety communities' mobile wireless communications applications. The antenna, MRA patch, can be tuned to operate at 0.8 GHz, 2.4 GHz and 4.9 GHz frequrencies. The MRA patch exhibits very similar gain and well behaved radiation patterns at each frequency band. The design and microfabrication of a new type of reduced size MEMS switches, which are called NEMS switches, are in progress. We are currently integrating NEMS type switches into the architecture of MRA patch for fabrication and test/characterization.