By leveraging cutting-edge additive manufacturing techniques and shape memory alloys, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have created an antenna that can change its shape based on its temperature. This technology — described in a recent online publication in ACS Applied Engineering Materials and which will be featured on the cover of an upcoming print issue — has transformative potential in a wide range of military, scientific, and commercial applications.
The shape of an antenna’s front end dictates many of its operating parameters. Once it’s manufactured, those characteristics are locked in. A shape-changing antenna would enable communications across a wider array of radio-frequency (RF) bands, opening up new realms of operational agility. Among the possibilities, a single shape-shifting antenna could do the work of multiple fixed-shape antennas, adapt dynamically to spectrum availability, and change beamwidth to switch between short- and long-range communications.
Inspired by science fiction technology, the novel antenna is the result of creative cross-disciplinary collaboration across APL.