Design, fabrication and testing of broadband MEMS antennas

In this research a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) actuated broadband antenna platform was designed and fabricated. The MEMS platform was created using traditional micromachining equipment at the High Density Electronics Center with several modifications to allow double sided processing. A miniature broadband antenna of size 9 mm x 9 mm that operates between 10-15 GHz with center frequency 12.3 GHz was fabricated. A Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) feed line was incorporated into the MEMS platform. The S-parameters of the antenna were measured using an Agilent Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and compared with the simulations using the Ansoft HFSS package. The design of the dual-hinge platform allowed the antenna to be rotated in two planes for beam scanning. The ability to accurately control the direction of each antenna element allows for greater control over antenna array radiation characteristics that can reduce the number of antenna elements in phased array systems. A systematic study of the platform design and operating characteristic of the device was conducted and experimental results of the fabricated devices are presented. The fabricated MEMS antenna was used to collect scattering data from targets for the purpose of statistical detection using the conventional neural network technique.;The complete fabrication process is provided along with a discussion of each step and the challenges of performing a double sided alignment process using the High Density Electronics Center at the University of Arkansas. The fabricated antennas were attached to a commercially available SMA connector and characterized using an Agilent HP5110C network analyzer. The platform was electrostatically actuated using a DC voltage source. The antenna was tested for target detection using an anechoic chamber with variety of spherical objects. An open source artificial neural network algorithm was utilized as the post-processing algorithm which resulted in near real-time detection results.