Directional Antennas Using Ecofriendly Materials and 3D Printing

This paper presents the designs and fabrication of lens antennas made of environmentally friendly materials. The specific goal of the work was to present ecological solutions used in 3D printing. Therefore, a study of the distribution of samples of four selected filaments in selected environments was conducted. It was investigated whether the selected compostable filaments are suitable to produce dielectric lenses. The tested lens antennas are intended for communication in vehicle-toeverything (V2X) applications at 5.9 GHz. In the project, care was taken to achieve a balance between the weight and size of the lenses while aiming at highest possible gain. A patch antenna was designed, and several lenses were evaluated to select final four lenses that can provide a compromise between acceptable antenna electrical parameters and sustainability of the antenna prototypes. The created physical structures had similar parameters to the simulated models but the type of filament had an impact on the measured gain. During the tests, it was proven that one of the two selected filaments, despite the manufacturer's assurances, is not compostable. The conicalhemispherical lens printed from allPHA filament, which decomposed in compost, weighed about 157 g and had a gain of about 13.5 dBi. It had the lowest Axial Ratio level of 1.22 dB and Axial Ratio Bandwidth (<3 dB) of 91 MHz.