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Computational Design Of The Electrical And Mechanical Performance Of Steerable Mems Antennas, Morgan Andrew Roddy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the origins, improvements, and variations of a broadband microwave antenna that can be beam-steered by a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS). The steerable MEMS antenna of this work was comprised of a planar antenna on top of a Silicon membrane. The membrane is etched to create a gimbal hinge structure and a platform which supported the antenna and gave it one or two degrees of freedom of rotation. The antennas presented were broadband and fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line which traversed the hinge structure. The antenna's orientation in space was designed to be changed through electrostatic …