NC State intellects design twistable, shape-shifting antennas
By Darren Murph 
posted December 3rd 2009 10:09AM
posted December 3rd 2009 10:09AM
NC State may be well on its way to yet another underwhelming season on the hardwood, but it seems as if a few of its most spirited boffins aren't even taking any time off to celebrate the season-ending victory over the hated Heels on the team's final football game. Dr. Michael Dickey and team have just published their latest invention, and if this thing ever reaches commercial status, you can expect ordinary objects to become a lot more intelligent. The crew's shape-shifting, twistable antenna overcomes the common limitation of copper-based alternatives by relying on an alloy that can be "bent, stretched, cut and twisted" while still transmitting or receiving a signal. Aside from enabling concept phones like the Ondo to become real, the development could also allow for stretchable antennas to be integrated into actual structures, giving buildings and bridges a way to communicate stresses to architects. Too bad it can't communicate the crumbling of an athletics program to an oblivious AD, but hey, there's always room for improvement in version 2.0.
Not our rivals! Can't believe you losers pulled that one out...
@nicksizzle Classic UNC bullshit. You spend the whole, halfway successful season dying for a chance to seek revenge, but that in no qualifies you as a rival. Pathetic. Short drive to Charlotte. They'll throw in a free muffler. I have several.
@dougdeep Revenge? Look at the all time stats son. Our rivalry game is with dook, that's why they give out the Victory Bell to the winner of that game.
@nicksizzle
Go Noles! I can't believe we are getting a pity appearance in the Gator Bowl. The rest of the ACC is going to be pissed.
@HotBBQ
37 : 10
Surely Darren you can't believe after Tuesday's loss we're destined for the bottom of the ACC in basketball this year? Lol.
Maybe we'll get lucky this year and beat UNC a time or two...
I wonder how twisting and bending the antenna effects the scattering parameters of the network. Has the research been published?
@andy6 what i meant to say was, where is the research published? I would like to peruse it.
Well - they got lucky on the football game (lucky because Yates sucks) and as for basketball (sigh). As a Heels fan, my every wish is that NC State can be good enough to hate again. Instead, they continue to get my pity...
As a school of Technology however, I give NCSU lots of props, because other than being good at raising cows, they can come up with some decent tech. CREE & SAS Institute got their foundings from NC State.
@Firelight
I guess thats about as good of a compliment as State is going to get from a UNC fan;)
@Firelight I don't get the "Yates sucks" comments.
UNC threw for over 300 Yds. UNC had hardly any penalties in the 2nd half. If you should be ticked at anyone it should be your D and the line that allowed the blocked FG.
@94wolf - the issue is UNC has a running game and Yates keeps throwing it for no gains. The D and ST deserve some screaming, too, but Yates has 13 interceptions and 11 tossed TDs. He sucks.
Looks like the PS3 background.
UNC-Chapel Hill doesn't even have an engineering school, how sad.
Help me out here. Haven't bendable antenna been around since the beginning of time?
The laws of nature/physics don't get 'updated' to conform to what's in.
My point being, and I see the link confirms it, that you can make an antenna bendable but to operate it you have to have it straight.
Duke is puke.
Wake is fake.
The team I hate is NC State!!
But nice work on the engineering side.
Darren, you are terrible. But that football game was great. Who needs a bowl game as long as we beat UNC? Seeing all of these NC State articles does make me proud to be a CSC undergrad here, regardless of our athletic department.
Glad to be an NC State Engineering Student! (CPE & EE) Now for me to develop something like this.....
Nice.... NCSU EE alumni here. I'll take a good academic program (without inflated grade) over a good basketball season.... although I'd love both.
As a structural engineer i must add that architects don't care about building stresses and aren't involved with bridges (thank god!). Sorry, my own little rant against architects getting all the credit for engineering work.
-10 points for gratuitous use of the word "boffins". An Engadget favorite this week, apparently
"shape-shifting, twistable antenna"
Ya, a coat hangar!
Darren must be a State fan...we need the comic relief.