Frequency reconfigurable antenna actuated by inflated triangular structure: Design and analysis

This paper proposes a frequency reconfigurable triangular antenna actuated by an inflated triangular structure. The open path antenna is transformed from an open type to a closed structure by inflating. Inflatable structures are easy to manufacture by fusing 2 inextensible membranes together along a defined pattern of lines. However, the prediction of their deployed shape remains a challenge. To solve the pattern changed problem, guided by geometric analyses and local buckle characteristics, the inflated triangular structure has been designed and verified by experiment and simulation. In the process of transformation of the antenna, the resonant frequency of the antenna is changed because this frequency is determined by the conformational change. The resonant frequency changes from GHz to kHz when the design of initial structure sizes is from millimeter to meter. The measured peak gains, the frequency, and the radiation direction are also reconfigurable by the initial size. Finally, the reconfigurable resonator array is presented, which is coupled to electric fields to absorb all incident radiation. In this work, the changed pattern design by inflating is applied to the antenna design, and its frequency reconfigurability is achieved. Through the electricity performance analysis of the reconfigurable antenna, precise manufacturing will be possible and provide guidance for manufacturing frequency reconfigurable antennas.     

Beam tracking method based on reconfigurable intelligent surface for obstructed communication

This paper proposes a new reconfigurable intelligent surface based three-dimensional beam tracking method to solve the beam tracking problems for the unmanned aerial vehicle with obstacles in communication channels. The proposed beam tracking method can not only regulate the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces to achieve the beam tracking of the obstructed communications, but also optimize the transmission efficiency of the communication. Firstly, a reconfigurable intelligent surface is proposed, which can correlate the transmission signals by adjusting the phase-shift matrix. Meanwhile, a new communication channel is constructed according to the reconfigurable intelligent surface, which consists of two parts. The first one is the channel between the unmanned aerial vehicle and the reconfigurable intelligent surface, the other is the channel between the reconfigurable intelligent surface and the ground base station. Note that the transmission performance of the communications can be optimized by adjusting the phase shift of each uniform linear array on the reconfigurable intelligent surface. Then, a new beam tracking method for the unmanned aerial vehicle with obstructed communications is proposed on the basis of the reconfigurable intelligent surface. By proposing the mixed genetic algorithm, the estimation accuracy of the azimuth and elevation angles is improved to enhance the performance of the beam tracking. Finally, the simulations are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed three-dimensional beam tracking method with reconfigurable intelligent surface.