Wideband Frequency Reconfigurable Patch Antenna with Switchable Slots Based on Liquid Metal and 3-D Printed Microfluidics

In this paper, a novel wideband frequency reconfigurable patch antenna with switchable slots (PASSs) based on liquid metal manipulation in 3-D printed microfluidic channel has been proposed. The frequency reconfiguration relies on the tuning and switching the slots achieved by continuous movement of the liquid metal volume over the channel that covers the narrow slots. The prototype patch antenna was designed with three pairs of composite slots, with the microfluidic channel bonded on top of the metal layer. The simulation and measurement results show that by tuning and switching the liquid metal-loaded slot in the designed microfluidic channel, a frequency tuning bandwidth of around 70% is achieved with a 2% instantaneous bandwidth, without significant change in the radiation pattern. Prototype has been fabricated, assembled, and measured with very good agreement between simulations and measurements.