Research on Bistable Reconfigurable Antennas Published in Nature Communications

Our research on bistable radiation pattern reconfigurable antennas has been published in Nature Communications. In this collaboration with the American University of Beirut, we propose a lightweight, agile antenna for low infrastructure areas. The antenna structure is bistable, enabled through the anisotropy of the underlying fiber reinforced composite laminates. We show that we can couple the stable shapes of the structure to radiation pattern reconfigurable in helical antennas. A single antenna can operate with two modes by switching shapes: device-to-device and ground-to-satellite. Coupled structural and electromagnetic design has led to antenna geometries not previously explored for helical antennas and reconfiguration without the need for high strain materials, creating load-carrying devices.

The work has also been featured in several news outlets: Stanford News, and Physics World.