Inkjet printed and folded LTE antenna for vehicular application

A multi-band antenna suitable for Long-term Evolution (LTE) is inkjet-printed, and then folded around a cylindrical form. The plastic cylinder is also printed using additive manufacturing techniques, as a separate process. The antenna is based on a planar wideband monopole radiator concept with an additional resonator for the LTE700 frequency band. The aim is to study the potential of low-cost additive manufacturing (AM) techniques for the development of vehicular antennas. Two antennas have been fabricated, one on paper substrate, and a second on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The one on paper is tested as a planar monopole antenna on a large ground plane. The one printed on PET is shaped onto the cylindrical form. The main aim is to investigate the use of low-cost inkjet printing techniques for the fabrication of disposable vehicular antennas that can be upgraded regularly. The antennas successfully operate at all LTE and mobile frequency bands. Finite different time domain simulations compare well with measurements.