Reconfigurable sensing antennas: Concept, design, and applications

As an emerging antenna concept, reconfigurable sensing antennas (RSAs) are presented in this paper. In order to clearly demonstrate the RSA concept and its operation principle, three RSA designs that use different sensing mechanisms for temperature sensation are proposed. Three temperature-sensing materials: water, high density poly-ethylene-Ba0.3Sr0.7TiO3 (HDPE-BST), and mercury, are integrated into these designs, respectively. By properly designed, the resonant frequencies of the RSAs are controlled by the temperature. The results show that the RSA using mercury has the best sensitivity, which is 20MHz/10°C with a 16m read range at 20°C. The sensitivity as a crucial factor in RSA designs is also discussed in this paper.