Reconfigurable Antenna Technologies for Next-Generation Radio Systems

现代无线电系统扩大了我们沟通、感知世界的能力，并以令人兴奋的新方式无处不在地传递信息。未来的系统需要自适应无线电技术来应对挑战，例如与动态信道环境竞争，提供增加的带宽，提高安全性，以及提供具有成本效益的通信和传感解决方案。可重构天线的创新发展有望解决这些挑战。本提案中描述的研究将探索实现可重构天线的新技术，并设计该技术在下一代无线电系统中的新应用。具体而言，研究将在三个不同的领域进行，旨在将可重构天线的能力提升到新的水平。首先，电子可调谐电磁材料将被开发，这将成为新天线设计的基础，并提供一个新的框架，从中得出可重构天线的概念。其次，将探索基于可调谐材料的可重构天线架构，特别是解决对低成本和低姿态天线的需求。最后，将在许多无线应用中探索可重构天线的独特场调制和参数化能力，例如具有改进物理层安全性和先进成像阵列的无线网络。总的来说，这些研究活动将为下一代系统的可重构天线技术铺平道路。

Modern radio systems have expanded our ability to communicate, sense our world, and deliver information ubiquitously in new and exciting ways. Future systems require adaptive radio technologies to meet challenges such as contending with dynamic channel environments, providing increased bandwidth, improving security, and providing cost-effective communications and sensing solutions. Innovative developments in reconfigurable antennas promise to address these challenges. The research described in this proposal will explore new technologies for implementing reconfigurable antennas as well as devise new applications of this technology in next-generation radio systems. Specifically, research will be conducted in three distinct areas aimed to elevate the capabilities of reconfigurable antennas to new levels. First, electronically tunable electromagnetic materials will be developed which will form the basis of new antenna designs and provide a new framework from which to derive reconfigurable antenna concepts. Second, reconfigurable antenna architectures based on the tunable materials developed will be explored, specifically to address the need for low-cost and low-profile antennas. Finally, the unique field-modulation and parametric capabilities of reconfigurable antennas will be explored in a number of wireless applications, such as wireless networks with improved physical-layer security and advanced imaging arrays. Collectively, these research activities will pave the way for reconfigurable antenna technologies for next-generation systems.