The U.S. Air Force has issued a $4.8M grant to support Florida International University’s research project on foldable, reconfigurable origami antennas. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research awarded the grant that follows another existing $4.8M investment in Transforming Antennas Center, an FIU-based organization that develops origami-based antennas, the university said Tuesday.
USAF will distribute funds for both FIU grants over a six-year period. Warfighters may store, collapse and deploy origami antennas depending on what the battlefield demands. These antennas work to provide battlefield communications when deployed.
FIU will use the new grant to expand on existing studies and support the development of new computational tools at TAC. The new grant also advances collaboration between FIU and the Air Force Research Laboratory, and fortifies the TAC’s workforce development efforts.
“This grant allows us to grow our research in origami antennas by bringing together intellectually diverse experts to pool resources and develop novel systems,” said Stavros Georgakopoulos, TAC director and an FIU professor.