Rapid Prototyping Cute Antennas
Christin L
This workshop covers the art, craft, and process of quickly making fun and functional cuteformal Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas. Learn how to make aesthetic antennas out of copper tape and chipboard! Participants will make and take home two different cute antennas that really work for either Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/BLE or for 5 GHz Wi-Fi. Connectivity is everywhere, and therefore, so are antennas. Why not design and make your own? I’ll present a few simple guidelines and resources to shed some light onto the "black magic" art of antenna design and demonstrate how well an antenna that was fabricated at home can perform. I’ll also show some tools like the RF Explorer and the LibreVNA that can help a serious cuteformal antennista make great antennas. Let’s compare designs with different numbers of lobes (heart, clover, star, and flower), as well as antennas following playing card suits. Which shape will perform the best?