Printed and reconfigurable microwave electronic circuits on flexible substrates

Increasingly there is a demand for high speed digital communication and interconnectivity of devices. The internet of things, which could be defined as a large collection of devices connected and communicating with each other for useful purposes, will require much more bandwidth then is currently available. In order to resolve this problem higher frequencies and new ways of using bandwidth will be needed.

This project aims to develop new inexpensive devices for use in the internet of things. These may include printable antennas based on nanomaterial inks, low temperature or solution processed transistors and the creation of devices on flexible substrates. The ability to reconfigure frequency in the device, that is to change frequency or direction of the beam, will also be investigated. This property would allow much more efficient use of the spectrum and specialist applications such as scanners on automated cars.
In order to achieve these goals devices will need achieve higher frequencies then previously reached. Currently this would be either in the 15GHz or 30GHz range.

There many potential benefits and applications associated with the development of high frequency mass producible devices. These could include automated detection systems in fields set up to monitor soil or crop conditions. Numerous drones could deliver parcels via a parcel delivery services. Connection of sensors in healthcare could provide information on patients which would otherwise be unknown to doctors. Automated cars could also use these frequency bands for scanning terrain in front of them or communication with or oncoming traffic at junctions.