Hexagonal-Pixel Surfaces for the Reconfiguration of Inkjet-Printed Antennas

We present a new method for the reconfiguration of inkjet-printed antennas to make them operate at different frequencies while matching to different impedances other than originally designed. Suitable antennas are modified by replacing conventional ground planes with patterned structures involving optimal arrangements of hexagonal cells. The cells are switched on or off, while the optimal distributions are found via genetic algorithms to reach desired characteristics. A full-wave solver is used for the required analysis in the optimization trials without sacrificing the accuracy. The antennas are fabricated by using a low-cost inkjet-printing setup to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, particularly in the context of radio-frequency-identification applications.