Tech Explore  December 10, 2018
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology focused on Miura-Ori, which has the ability to expand and contract like an accordion, to create radio frequency filters that have adjustable dimensions, enabling the devices to change which signals they block throughout a large range of frequencies. They used a special printer that scored paper to allow a sheet to be folded in the origami pattern. An inkjet-type printer was then used to apply lines of silver ink across those perforations, forming the dipole elements that gave the object its radio frequency filtering ability. They found that a single-layer Miura-Ori-shaped filter blocked a narrow band of frequencies while multiple layers of the filters stacked could achieve a wider band of blocked frequencies. Such devices could be good candidates to be used as reflectarrays for the next generation of cubesats or other space communications devices…read more.
Silver dipoles are arranged across the folds of a Miuri-Ori pattern to enable frequency blocking. Image: Rob Felt