Revolúcia tvarovateľných antén by Magdalena Rosova

Researchers from North Carolina State University are sure that their new invention would hit the market. They invented small antennas which can bend, twist and stretch which can be used in electronics that needs to be rolled up before deployment. However the antennas are still in the lab, researches already dream about antennas used in military equipment which can be folded. Furthermore, the antennas could be used to monitor motion in structures like bridges, they say. Expanding and contractions of the bridge would stretch the antenna and so change its frequency. That would wirelessly provide information about the condition of the bridge. Researcher Ju-Hee So is even working on artificial eyes using twistable antennas which send visual signals to the brain. This invention should help blind people to get some sort of sight. Same as ordinary not re-shapable antennas made of copper which emit radio waves of a certain frequency, this new kind of antennas will also have its ! own frequency. Details of the new invention is in the Nov. 23 issue of the journal Advanced Funcional Materials. Michael Dickey altogether with his colleagues wanted to develop similar antennas for old televisions. They injected alloy of gallium and indium into channels in a piece of elastic silicon which looks like a flat ribbon. Each chinnel has two opening, one at either end. The alloy in the ribbon can slosh around like water but the difference is that its suface oxidizes and forms a skin and therefore it stays in the channel. Such antennas are able to collect signals with a variety of wavelengths.

related story (sgx16035): http://news.softpedia.com/news/Bendable-Antennas-to-Revoluti...

by Magdalena Rosova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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