Leaky Wave Self-Structuring Antenna (LW-SSA)

DESCRIPTION:
Virtual EM has designed and manufactured successful antenna prototypes in the past five years. The latest antenna developed is a wraparound wearable antenna based-on leaky-wave principle and is called the Leaky Wave Self-Structuring Antenna (LW-SSA). The antenna is configured using 12 MEMS switches and operates in the 2.4-2.5 ISM band with 8 selectable beams. Large degrees of freedom afforded by the high number of switches on the antenna aperture provide built-in redundancy against switch failure or structural damage, i.e., it is a self-healing antenna. Antenna control board houses a microcontroller with an optimizing algorithm, which is 802.11s mesh network compatible. The antenna was designed for NASA’s deep space missions (for transmitting high definition video, voice, vital signs of astronauts, command and control data) and was developed under a NASA Phase II SBIR Contract (NNX09CB67C).

SBIR #: NNX09CB67C (Phase II)