Design, Simulation, and Fabrication of a Novel Type of Inkjet-Printed Pixel Antennas

We present a novel type of pixel antennas that are suitable for fabrication in low-cost setups based on commercial inkjet printers. The proposed antennas involve hexagonal cells that can be removed in accordance with rigorous optimizations via genetic algorithms that are supported by full-wave solutions with the multilevel fast multipole algorithm. Optimal pixel configurations are determined precisely for desired electrical characteristics, such as low power-reflection values at required frequencies. Measurements on fabricated samples demonstrate the effectiveness of the optimizations, as well as the favorable characteristics of the hexagonal-cell pixel antennas that fully benefit from the advantages of low-cost inkjet printing.