Microelectromechanical switch (MEMS) antenna

Abstract

A MEMS antenna is provided comprising a dielectric layer, and a conductive line radiator formed overlying the dielectric layer including at least one selectively connectable MEMS conductive section to vary the mechanical (physical) length of the radiator. The antenna may include a plurality of selectively connectable MEMS conductive sections and a plurality of fixed-length conductive section. The MEMS conductive sections may be parallely aligned along the radiator width, and/or parallely aligned along the radiator length. For example, the radiator may have a first length formed in response to connecting a first MEMS conductive section, and a second length, shorter than the first length, formed in response to disconnecting the first MEMS conductive section. Then, the radiator first length would be an effective quarter-wavelength odd multiple at a first frequency, and the second length would be an effective quarter-wavelength odd multiple at a second frequency.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.