"A surface wave antenna operating in the 2.4 GHz band and efficient for launching surface electromagnetic
waves at metal/dielectric interfaces is presented. The antenna operation is based on the strong field enhancement at the
antenna tip, which results in efficient excitation of surface waves propagating along nearby metal surfaces. Since surface
electromagnetic waves may efficiently tunnel through deeply subwavelength channels from inner to outer metal/dielectric
interface of a metal enclosure, this antenna is useful for broadband radio communication through various conductive
enclosures, such as typical commercial Faraday cages."

I read this abstract from a paper while researching antenna design. I'm investigating an RTLS tag made out of stainless steel approximately 85mmx55mm. Approximate thickness of the top and bottom stainless steel skin is 1mm thick each. The UWB/BLE circuit will be inside that sandwich. Anyone familiar with surface wave antenna design? No I can't poke holes in the skin.

 

Clearly the author of that paper is seeking a grant to develop an impossible product, while not having to produce any working results for 3 years.

 

Actually I've now seen it done two different ways. We are going to do some testing to confirm but it seems to work

 

For something to actually function it would be different from the way I understand the description. THAT is entirely possible.

 

First You, ( or "he" ), need to state the exact-character of the known, and obvious, problem.

Then state the proposed solution,
and why and how it is superior to the hundreds, or even thousands, of previous attempts by others.

It may take a year or two, part-time, just to catalog "most" of the previous attempts,
or possibly working, solutions, and of course, their shortcomings as well.

If it looks like "Magic", then You obviously don't understand it yet,
and You will have all sorts of difficulty accurately duplicating it.
.
.
.

 

I have used a stainless steel whip antenna for years and they work adequately and don't rust. Certainly the one brand that sells a copper plated stainless antenna is more efficient by some amount. So certainly something made of stainless will work to some extent.
BUT the language in the quote from whatever technical paper waves a very large red flag as to the credibility of the author. It would be interesting to read the whole technical paper on the project..

 

"A surface wave antenna operating in the 2.4 GHz band and efficient for launching surface electromagnetic
waves at metal/dielectric interfaces is presented. The antenna operation is based on the strong field enhancement at the
antenna tip, which results in efficient excitation of surface waves propagating along nearby metal surfaces. Since surface
electromagnetic waves may efficiently tunnel through deeply subwavelength channels from inner to outer metal/dielectric
interface of a metal enclosure, this antenna is useful for broadband radio communication through various conductive
enclosures, such as typical commercial Faraday cages."

I read this abstract from a paper while researching antenna design. I'm investigating an RTLS tag made out of stainless steel approximately 85mmx55mm. Approximate thickness of the top and bottom stainless steel skin is 1mm thick each. The UWB/BLE circuit will be inside that sandwich. Anyone familiar with surface wave antenna design? No I can't poke holes in the skin.

Welcome to AAC.

Can you provide a like to the paper? My reading suggests there are holes in the enclosure being described (“subwavelength channels”), which is backed up by “typical commercial Faraday cages” which I would expect to be made of a copper screen with a mesh size chosen to be smaller than the wavelength of the highest frequency of interest.

It makes sense, too, that surface waves would be conducted to outer surfaces through breaks that, while not being large enough to present an aperture for free space propagation, have a discontinuity which makes the two surfaces effectively one.

You say you can’t make holes in the enclosure, but what if you made small holes that were filled with a nonconductive material, like epoxy or some other resin? Or even with a solid material internally, flush on the outside.

The holes here are exaggerated, and the thickness of the dielectric material would depend on mechanical requirements, but this is it the idea…

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