"Smart Skins,
Tunable Substrates and Structure
Inventors: V. K. Varadan, et al.
PSU
Inv. Disc. No. 92-1183
Researchers at the Pennsylvania State
University have developed a new tunable dielectric technology that is based
on a family of stoichiometric compositions of ferroelectric ceramics whose
dielectric permittivity can be changed by 10-40% by applying a static bias
voltage.
This technology has a wide variety of potential applications. Electronic beam
steering for many different antenna configurations including small light weight,
conformal antennas for aerospace use, civilian and military ground vehicles,
security systems, air traffic control, health monitoring for civil structures
and aircraft, smart highways vehicular systems, tunable substrates, phase
shifters and other microwave components, etc.
The materials technology including processing, quality control and characterization
has already been developed. Proof of concept for many applications have been
demonstrated in the laboratory. Each application will, however, require the
composition to be optimized for the particular specifications and operational
requirements.