FIU’s Stavros Georgakopoulos leads research into the development of foldable, deployable, reconfigurable antenna systems that operate at super-high frequencies, resulting in improved data speeds and larger bandwidth. The antennas are not only high performing, but packable too. For example, the helix design folds from 13 inches down to less than two inches.

The folding antenna designs take inspiration from origami. “Satellites in space must deploy large antennas to communicate down to earth. Once an antenna is in space, there’s plenty of space for it. That’s not the problem,” Georgakopoulos notes. “It’s how do you get it there?” His next goal is to radically upgrade the frequencies on the antennas with the addition of ultra-wideband systems.

• Stavros Georgakopoulos