Experimental investigation of bent patch antennas on MID substrate

The Molded Interconnect Device technology (MID) in combination with Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) offers the possibility to design electrical and mechanical components on three-dimensional surfaces to increase functionality, level of integration and to reduce costs. For example, transmission lines, antennas, switches and connectors can be integrated inside the covers of cellular phones or the cases of vehicle´s side mirrors. Especially in comparison to commonly used planar antenna designs, the third dimension offers various possibilities to fit the antenna into a given volume by e.g. bending or curving the structure of the antenna. In this paper a rectangular patch antenna, implemented on a MID substrate, is presented and the influence of the bending angle on the antenna performance is generally described. Subsequently, simulation and measurement results for different inclinations are compared in terms of radiation characteristics and input reflection coefficients. Finally, a compensation approach for the effect on the resonance frequency due to the bending is presented.