06/18/2024
By Danielle Fretwell

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, invites you to attend a Doctoral Dissertation Proposal defense by Adria Kajenski on: "Textile-Based Printed Electronics for RF and Microwave Applications."

Candidate Name: Adria Kajenski
Degree: Doctoral
Defense Date: Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Time: 9 to 11 a.m.
Location: ETIC 445

Committee:

  • Advisor Alkim Akyurtlu, Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Hualiang Zhang, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Oshadha Ranasingha, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Guinevere Strack, Deputy Director of the Printed Electronics Research Collaborative (PERC)
  • Jesse Jur, Deputy Director of the Office of Science, Technology & Innovation, North Carolina Department of Commerce

Brief Abstract:
Wearable textile electronics is a rapidly developing field as a subtopic of flexible electronics, encompassing a study of both radio frequency (RF) electronics as well as textile materials. Thus far, the biggest challenge is that there is no comprehensive study combining the two. Establishing this would acknowledge the complexity of textiles, ultimately enabling quality, robust devices that maximize the advantages of their intrinsic designs and materials interactions.

The most efficient way to realize textile electronics is via additive manufacturing (AM). Direct-write syringe dispense printing is well suited for textile electronics because it is compatible with a variety of ink viscosities and substrates with varying surface characteristics. Direct-write is also efficient for rapid prototyping, which is necessary for unique materials such as textiles which require significant optimization to achieve quality prints. Print parameters are easily modified during processing, minimizing fabrication time and costs. Furthermore, this print method can be used to print directly onto the textile surface which enables integration of the ink within the fibrous substrate.

Many reported works on wearables focus on materials development via ink synthesis, or study RF electronics by making significant shortcuts in fabrication by applying copper tape to a fabric substrate rather than selecting a functional material compatible with textile. However, AM provides a simpler method to combine the subsets of wearable electronics, in turn allowing more detailed study. This research aims to take a multidisciplinary approach to achieve this goal, studying the development of an RF metasurface and its variations in performance under realistic wearable scenarios, and the print interface behavior for low-cost functional inks on fabric. In this work, a metasurface for bandstop at WLAN frequency 6 GHz is studied for applications in defense. Advanced study including bend analysis, its application in performance enhancement of an omnidirectional antenna, as well as an alternative dual-band design will be proposed. An analysis of materials via the ink-substrate interface will be done by studying surface chemistry, and will be compared to metasurface performance as a metric. Next, a direct-write dispensed liquid metal functional ink will be investigated on textile for the first time. AM as an avenue for combining materials and RF electronics enables a comprehensive study for development and analysis of textile electronics.