A Concept of Flexible Non-Metallic Dielectric Resonator Antenna for Conformal Applications

A concept of flexible dielectric resonator antenna based on non-metallic materials is presented in this paper for conformal applications. To attain mechanical flexibility, the dielectric resonator and the substrate of the antenna are realized using a flexible PDMS(Polydimethylsiloxane)-ceramic mixture, whereas the microstrip feed and the ground plane are based on a flexible and conductive carbon cloth. To validate the concept, an antenna prototype is designed, fabricated and experimentally characterized. The good agreement between simulation and measurement suggests that the antenna concept is promising for conformal applications.