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Abstract

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is opening up frequencies within the television range (400MHz to 700MHz) of the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band for use in emerging technologies, such as cognitive radio networks and machine-to-machine communication. In order for manufacturers to produce affordable antennas that can be used in these emerging technologies, inexpensive antennas are required that meet these new spectrum needs. This paper presents a mesh coplanar-slot bowtie patch antenna fabricated using commercially available inkjet-printing technology. Two antennas were fabricated: a 27x21cm copper FR4 antenna with .25mm lines and a 27x21cm silver antenna with 2mm lines fabricated using inkjet-printing. The copper antenna was iteratively designed in High Frequency Software Simulator (HFSS) and measured using a network analyzer. Simulations and measured results, which show good agreement, verify the viability of merging the mesh and coplanar-slot topologies. The silver antenna is a variation of the copper antenna that was iteratively altered in HFSS until the desired bandwidth was achieved. Simulations and measured results, which show good agreement, verify the viability of inkjet-printing as a fabrication method. The radioelectrical performance of the antennas were also compared to each other. Although there was slight variation between the resonant frequency and bandwidth, an adequate agreement was observed between the two antennas. This demonstrates the feasibility of using inkjet-printing as a quick, efficient method to fabricate UHF antennas that can take advantage of emerging spectrum and be used in applications such as cognitive-radio-networks and machine-to-machine communication.

Publication Date

2018

Subject Major(s)

Electrical Engineering

Keywords

Antennas, Mesh, Coplanar, Slot, Inkjet, Inkjet Printing, Silver Ink, Meshing, Cognitive Radio Networks, Ultra High Frequency Band

Disciplines

Electromagnetics and Photonics | Systems and Communications

Current Academic Year

Freshman

Faculty Advisor/Mentor

Mary Boyes

Faculty Advisor/Mentor

Erden Topsakal

Rights

© The Author(s)

The Silver Lining: A Novel, Inkjet-Printed Mesh Coplanar-Slot Antenna for the UHF Band

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