1

A DUAL BAND FREQUENCY RECONFIGURABLE

ORIGAMI MAGIC CUBE ANTENNA FOR WIRELESS
SENSOR NETWORK APPLICATIONS
Shagñay Nelson (1007), Peñaloza José (1009), Barrionuevo Jhonny (973), Ortega Josselyn (981)
Escuela de Ingeniería en Electrónica, Telecomunicaciones y Redes – FIE – ESPOCH.
Riobamba, Ecuador.

option because they would require a large amount of space with

Abstract— In this paper, a dual band frequency reconfigurable
origami magic cube antenna for wireless sensor network (WSN)
applications, is presented. The proposed origami antenna consists
of a meandered monopole folded onto three sides of the magic
cube. A microstrip open-ended stub is loaded on the meandered
monopole. The proposed origami magic cube can be mechanically
folded and unfolded. The proposed antenna operates at 1.57 GHZ
and 2.4 GHz in the folded state. In the unfolded state, the proposed
antenna operates at 1.0 GHz and 2.3 GHz. The origami magic cube
will be built on paper and the monopole with flexible copper film
implement onto the cube.
Index Terms— Origami Magic Cube, Wireless Sensor Network,
Frequency Reconfigurable, Monopole Antenna, Dual Band.
sufficient distance between the multiple antennas to avoid
interference. Therefore, the antennas used in these radio devices
should be multiband, wideband, or frequency reconfigurable.
Compared to multiband and wideband antennas, a frequency
reconfigurable antenna is an attractive choice because it can
minimize the interference between multiple frequencies [6].
The monopole antennas have received great attention from last
few decades because of its interesting features like
omnidirectional radiation characteristics, compact size (λ/4),
low cost, easy fabrication procedure and easy integration with
other microwave circuits as it can see in [7]. Planar monopole
antennas are mostly fed by microstrip line or coplanar
waveguide. Due to its image in the ground plane, radiation
pattern of the monopole antenna is similar to the dipole antenna.

o I. INTRODUCTION
RIGAMI is a Japanese word meaning, “paper folding.”
The associated concept has been used in many areas such
as biochemistry, robotics, energy harvesting, architecture,
Dual band and multiband monopole antennas can play an
important role in modern multiband communication systems. In
[8], a compact monopole patch antenna with very interesting
feature of wideband impedance bandwidth is presented. In
medical devices, and space borne applications [1,2]. Its folding [9,10], a 3-dimensional (3-D) cubic antenna is presented for
and unfolding capabilities can present significant advantages in radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless sensor
electromagnetic (EM) applications. For instance, networks (WSN).
multifunctionality can be achieved by folding and unfolding In this
while reducing payload costs and overall volume; easy and fast
designing procedures are additional benefits of origami
antennas [3]. Very few examples of antennas and RF circuits II. DESIGN OF THE ANTENNA
designed with the origami concept can be found in the literature.
One of them is a 3-D origami antenna designed in an accordion The presented antenna is designed on a paper substrate in an
shape, proposed in [4]. Different ways of folding and unfolding origami magic cube shape with relative permittivity of 2.2, loss
operations can change the height of the antenna, and thus tangent 0.004 and the thickness h of 0.2 mm. The geometry of
reconfigure its frequency characteristics. In [5], a frequency- the proposed antenna in the folded and unfolded forms is
and mode reconfigurable quadrifilar helical origami antenna is presented in Figure 1. First, the origami magic cube is built and
presented. The antenna will be fabricated on six planar sides of then the monopole is realized on the magic cube.
cube. The cube will be realized by using flexible copper film
and paper, which serve as substrate part of the antenna.
A wireless network is a computer network that uses wireless
data connections between network nodes. Wireless networking
is a method by which homes, telecommunications networks and
business installations avoid the costly process of introducing
cables into a building, or as a connection between various
equipment locations. Wireless telecommunications networks
are generally implemented and administered using radio
communication. Many wireless applications have been
integrated into a single radio device. For such radio devices,
multiple antennas for various frequencies are not a suitable
 2

[10] Kruesi, C.; Tentzeris, M.M. “Magic-cube” antenna configurations for

ultra compact RFID and wireless sensor nodes. In Proceedings of the
IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and
USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting, San Diego, CA, USA, 5–
11 July 2008; pp. 4–7.

(a)

(b)

Fig 1. Proposed origami magic cube antenna (a) in the unfolded state
(b) magic cube in folded state

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