Antenna having MEMS-tuned RF resonators

An antenna comprising:

• a physical antenna aperture having an array of antenna elements, wherein the array of antenna elements comprises a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) resonators, each RF resonator of the plurality of RF resonators comprising an RF radiating element with a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) device, wherein each of the plurality of RF resonators comprises:
• a patch and slot that form a patch/slot pair;
• and
• a MEMS actuator to change position of the patch and the iris with respect to each other to change capacitance and/or inductance of said each resonator.

An antenna comprising:

• a physical antenna aperture having an array of antenna elements, wherein the array of antenna elements comprises a plurality of radio-frequency (RF) resonators, each RF resonator of the plurality of RF resonators comprising an RF radiating element with at least one push-pull parallel plate tunable capacitor comprising:
• a patch, of a patch/iris pair, with a first electrode attached thereto;
• a iris, of the patch/iris pair, with a second electrode attached thereto;
• a membrane between the first and second electrodes, the membrane being movable between the first and second electrodes in order to change the capacitance, wherein capacitance between the iris and the membrane changes as the membrane is pulled up and down due to a change in voltage of the membrane, and
• wherein a resonance frequency of each RF resonator in the plurality of RF resonators is tuned between known levels using at least one push-pull parallel plate tunable capacitor.