Telecommunications
Shape-shifting Liquid-Metal Antennas
Researchers devise antennas that can be lengthened—or shortened—to adjust their frequency
21 Aug 2015
Photo: North Carolina State University
Normally, when you want to adjust the resonant frequency of an antenna, you add electronic components like inductors to the circuit. But you can only go so far with that approach; at some point you’ll have to change the physical length of the antenna. That’s fine if you’re designing something, but impractical to do on the fly—until now. Researchers at North Carolina State University in Raleigh used liquid metal to construct an antenna that lengthens or shortens on electronic command.
David Schneider is a former editor at IEEE Spectrum, and continues to contribute Hands On articles. He holds a bachelor's degree in geology from Yale, a master's in engineering from UC Berkeley, and a doctorate in geology from Columbia.