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A Solar Cell Compatible Super-Wideband Flexible Transparent Antenna with Enhanced Axial Ratio
Nouman Rasool1, Shuqi Yang1, Chen Chen2
1School of Electronic Information Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637002, China.
Micromachines
|November 27, 2025
Summary
A novel flexible and transparent super-wideband antenna (SWTA) offers high performance for wireless applications. This innovative design achieves wide bandwidths and circular polarization, enabling high data rates and beyond-visual-line-of-sight operations.
Area of Science:
- Electromagnetics and Microwave Engineering
- Materials Science for Electronics
- Wireless Communication Systems
Background:
- Traditional antennas often lack flexibility and transparency, limiting their integration into various devices and platforms.
- Achieving wide bandwidths and circular polarization simultaneously presents a significant challenge in antenna design.
- The demand for antennas supporting high data rates and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) communication is rapidly increasing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and demonstrate a super-wideband transparent antenna (SWTA) with enhanced axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW).
- To investigate the impact of an enhanced ground plane and L-shaped strips on antenna performance, including polarization characteristics.
- To achieve high optical transparency and mechanical flexibility in a compact antenna design.
Main Methods:
- Design and simulation of a planar antenna using PET and metal oxide thin films for flexibility and transparency.
- Incorporation of an enhanced ground plane with L-shaped strips to excite orthogonal modes and achieve circular polarization.
- Fabrication and experimental validation of the proposed SWTA, measuring impedance bandwidth, ARBW, gain, and optical transparency.
Main Results:
- The SWTA exhibits a super-wideband impedance bandwidth of 182% (1.33-28.52 GHz) and an ARBW of 66% (3.88-7.73 GHz).
- The antenna achieves a peak gain of 11.5 dBi and demonstrates circular polarization due to perturbed electric fields.
- Optical transparency exceeds 90%, confirming the feasibility of integrating transparent electronic components.
Conclusions:
- The proposed flexible and transparent SWTA demonstrates excellent performance metrics, including wide bandwidths and circular polarization.
- The design facilitates easy integration into various platforms requiring unobtrusive and high-performance antennas.
- This antenna technology is well-suited for applications demanding high data rates and BVLOS capabilities, such as augmented reality and advanced communication systems.
