Adjustable Antenna Design Can Bring Communications Online in Disaster-Struck Areas

Wireless communications have become an integral part of our everyday lives. We rely heavily on cell phones and Wi-Fi to communicate with one another, get news information, guide us to destinations, and even work. However, there are many times when wireless communications can go down. This is especially true when natural disasters strike such as hurricanes, tornados, and earthquakes. These event can knock out power stations and cell phone towers preventing people from receiving critical news updates and communications to help survive. Many times getting wireless communications working is a top priority after a natural disaster to communicate critical information and coordinate rescue efforts.

Researchers from Stanford and the American University of Beirut (AUB) have recently developed a portable lightweight antenna which they suggest can help bring wireless communications back online quickly in the event of an antenna failure. The antenna is a flexible design resembling a child’s finger-trap toy. It is a helical antenna design that can stretch out or compress into a very small size. In its most compact position it is only about an inch tall and 5" wide and it weighs only 1.4 ounces. Pulling or pushing it to different lengths allows it to support multiple frequency bands such that it can work with various services such as cell phone frequencies, two way radio frequencies, or satellite communications.

Since much wireless infrastructure such as cell phone towers utilize large, heavy, and power consuming antennas, the adjustable helical antenna can offer a short term solution for keeping communications on air while the infrastructure gets repaired. “The state-of-the-art solutions typically employed in these areas are heavy, metallic dishes. They’re not easy to move around, they require a lot of power to operate, and they’re not particularly cost-effective,” explains Maria Sakovsky, an assistant professor at Stanford. “Our antenna is lightweight, low-power, and can switch between two operating states. It’s able to do more with as little as possible in these areas where communications are lacking.”

The antenna borrows some concepts generally used for antenna designs for satellite dishes. The antenna would generally be as compact as possible upon launch of a satellite, and when in orbit it would extend or unfold to its intended shape. In fact, the antenna can potentially have use in space as well. “We don’t have a lot of spare operating power, volume, or mass on our spacecraft either. This holds a lot of potential for replacing multiple antennas on a satellite with a single one,” mentioned Sakovsky.

More details on the project can be found in the team's paper, which was published in Nature Communications.