Thesis
Design and implementation of flexible bow-tie antennas on polymer substrate
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
05/2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000000046
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/124779
Abstract
Antennas, as an integral part of any wireless system, demand flexibility for wearables and
other more robust applications. However, there are several challenges to achieve the flexibility
feature of the antennas. These are mostly associated with the fabrication technique, like inkjet
printing and antenna performance under conformal conditions. The aim of this research is twofold. Firstly, to propose a guideline for inkjet printing of highly conductive and mechanically
stable printed patterns on the thin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. Secondly, to design
and print wideband flexible bowtie slot antennas on the same substrate utilizing our established
printing principle for IoT and X band frequency applications. Initially, the critical printing
parameters: drop spacing, the number of layers, sintering temperatures as a function of time are
determined through experimental analysis. The proposed optimum printing parameters for this
substrate are 20 µm drop spacing, three layers of printing, and 120˚C sintering temperature for 30
minutes. The measured optimum resistivity was found at 5.25 µΩ-cm. After that, a new wideband
bowtie shaped slot antenna is realized on PET substrate using the obtained optimum inkjet printing
parameters. The slotted bowtie design is implemented with an asymmetric bow-tie flare angle and a larger feeding neck with a metal strip inside the bowtie slot to achieve a broader bandwidth and
a higher gain. The fabricated antenna operates over 2.1– 4.35 GHz frequency range (69.77%
fractional bandwidth), which covers WLAN, WiMax, and most of the 3G and 4G frequency bands.
Finally, another new bowtie slot antenna is designed operating from 8.1 GHz to 12.1 GHz (XBand) targeting satellite and radar systems. The achieved average peak antenna gain for a single
antenna is 4.8 dB, which is low for X band applications. Then, to enhance the antenna gain further,
a two-element array antenna is designed with a T-junction based feed network. The array antenna
also operates in the whole X band with a fractional bandwidth of 39.2% and with an average peak
gain of 8.2 dB to the entire operating frequency band. Both of the designed wideband antennas
are suitable for implementation in conformal applications without significant performance
degradation.
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Details
- Title
- Design and implementation of flexible bow-tie antennas on polymer substrate
- Creators
- Manjurul Ahsan Riheen
- Contributors
- PRAVEEN K SEKHAR (Degree Supervisor) - Washington State University, Engineering and Computer Science (VANC), School ofTUTKU KARACOLAK (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Engineering and Computer Science (VANC), School ofSUN UNG KIM (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Engineering and Computer Science (VANC), School of
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Engineering and Computer Science (VANC), School of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Format
- pdf
- Number of pages
- 79
- Identifiers
- 99900590963401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis