ESTG - Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrotécnica - Telecomunicações
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Browsing ESTG - Mestrado em Engenharia Eletrotécnica - Telecomunicações by Author "Carvalho, Saúl dos Santos"
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- ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FOR ANTENNA TECHNOLOGIESPublication . Carvalho, Saúl dos Santos; Caldeirinha, Rafael Ferreira da Silva; Reis, João Ricardo VitorinoThis dissertation explores the use of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology, commonly known as Three-dimensional (3D) printing, for fabricating antennas, focusing on both static 3D and dynamic Four-dimensional (4D) printing techniques. It evaluates the cost-effectiveness and performance of these antennas compared to the ones fabricated using traditional methods (e.g. commercially available antennas). The study begins with the characterisation of dielectric properties of 3D printed materials through various extraction methods, which is crucial for accurate simulation and performance prediction. With this research several antennas were 3D printed and analysed, including pyramidal horn antennas, which were fully dielectric, with metallised polymers, with metal composites, and fully metallic, operating at K-Band. Additive manufacturing techniques, such as Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF), were employed, with findings indicating that the resultant full metal horn antennas offered the best performance in terms of gain, impedance matching, and bandwidth. Additionally, the study examines 3D printed C-Band microstrip rectangular patch antennas. Results show that while 3D printed microstrip patch antennas can achieve reasonable efficiency and gain, they still lag behind traditional laminate-based antennas. A novel aspect of this research is the design of an X-Band pneumatic-deployable 4D petal horn antenna, which demonstrates potential for real-time adaptability through computational fluid dynamics and electromagnetic simulations. The dissertation concludes that 3D printing technology offers significant advantages for antenna fabrication, particularly in rapid prototyping and customisation. The emergence of 4D printing presents new possibilities for dynamic, adaptable antennas, though further research is needed to address material and fabrication challenges to fully harness its potential.