Fractals, MEMS, and FSS electromagnetic devices: Miniaturization and multiple resonances

This research includes several topics in the area of fractal antennas and MEMS-enabled antenna systems.;Fractal antennas are based on self-similar and space-filling fractal geometry to design multiband and miniaturized antennas. Several fractal geometries have been investigated in a variety of applications. Miniaturized wire and patch antennas have been designed, simulated, fabricated and measured which are one third smaller than their non-fractal counterparts. The quality factor of the miniaturized fractal wire antennas has been investigated showing that the bandwidth of these antennas does not change as a result of the miniaturization. The miniaturized fractal patches have been incorporated into the design of efficient scanning phased arrays. Fractal geometry has also been applied to the design of frequency selective surfaces. Multiband dual-polarized fractal frequency-selective surfaces have been design, simulated, fabricated and measured.;MEMS technology has been applied to the design of antenna systems to achieve reconfigurability. The antennas are mechanically reconfigured using MEMS actuators which change the spectral and radiation characteristics of the antenna systems. Tilting magnetic actuators have been used in the design of frequency-selective surfaces. Tilting the elements of the surface continuously shifts the resonant frequency. Fabricated MEMS-enabled frequency-selective surfaces have been characterized and measured. Electrostatic actuators have been incorporated in the design of tunable patch antennas to tune the resonant frequency and the radiated phase. These tunable patch antennas, which have been simulated and prototyped, could be used for reconfigurable phased arrays and reflectarrays.