A Stretchable Liquid Metal Antenna Array

This work introduces a stretchable liquid metal antenna array. While liquid metal devices are not new, non-toxic gallium based liquid metals have caused an increase in research for related applications. Stretchable liquid metal antennas and phase shifters can provide the reconfigurability for wideband applications while delivering beam control at low cost. This research presents the design, simulations, and measurements of a stretchable liquid metal array based on two stretchable liquid metal antennas and a stretchable liquid metal phase shifter. The 2-element array prototype demonstrates 180° beam steering, active return loss better than 15 dB, and gain above 3.5 dBi, thus indicating the possibilities of using liquid metals for an antenna array system.