Electromechanically Deployable High-Gain Pop-Up Antenna Using Shape Memory Alloy and Kirigami Technology

Abstract

This article proposes a low-cost, high-gain, and vertically polarized deployable antenna utilizing kirigami pop-up geometry. It primarily utilizes a foldable polyethylene terephthalate sheet to produce kirigami geometry in association with a rectangular radiating monopole, two reflectors, and a parasitic strip director. The reflectors and director increase the antenna gain and provide a frequency-independent tilted radiated beam with a higher beamwidth in the azimuth plane. In addition, electromechanically excited shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators enable folding and unfolding, make the antenna easily transportable and swiftly deployable. We describe the step-by-step fabrication of the kirigami geometry and shape memory spring actuator characterization. The designed, fabricated, and tested antenna achieves a -10 dB reflection bandwidth of 48.8% (1.7-2.8 GHz) providing a peak gain of more than 10 dBi at 2.45 GHz. The tilted radiated beam has a significantly wider beamwidth (90 degrees) in the azimuth plane, compared to 40 degrees in the elevation plane. The measured results agree well with simulations, verifying the proposed design concept. The fabricated prototype offers cost-effectiveness, more rapid fabrication, unprecedented performance, and significant potential for use in a range of microwave applications.