Georgia Tech team demonstrates tuneable origami inspired antennae

The group claims the method could be used for a number of applications, from antenna systems capable of adapting in real-time to ambient conditions to electromagnetic cloaking systems that could be reconfigured on the fly to reflect or absorb different frequencies.

The technology is based on an origami pattern called Miura-Ori, which has the ability to expand and contract like an accordion. "The Miura-Ori pattern has an infinite number of possible positions along its range of extension from fully compressed to fully expanded," explained Professor Glaucio Paulino. "A spatial filter made in this fashion can achieve similar versatility, changing which frequency it blocks as the filter is compressed or expanded."

The researchers used a special printer that scored paper to allow a sheet to be folded in the origami pattern. An inkjet-type printer was then used to apply lines of silver ink across those perforations, forming the dipole elements that gave the object its radio frequency filtering ability.