Realization of a Reconfigurable Leaky-Wave Antenna with Fixed-Frequency Beam Scanning Capability using Liquid Metal

This article presents a new technique to implement a reconfigurable leaky-wave antenna (LWA) operating at 24 GHz with fixed-frequency beam-scanning capability. Such structure is realized by driving the liquid metal, named Eutectic Gallium-Indium (EGaIn), into different positions to control the scanning angles. The movement of liquid metal encased by the Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is electrically initiated by two electrodes. The proposed antenna performance is verified by the ANSYS High-frequency Structure (HFSS) which shows the ability to scan from -60 to 20 degrees at 24 GHz. A 3D-Printed prototype has been built, but the measurement results are not yet available.