3D printing method results in electrically small antenna design

It goes without saying that the world of consumer electronics do benefit from Moore’s Law as well as the constant revolution of hardware and engineering that sees things getting smaller and smaller. Antennas, however, are slightly different since they do suffer limitations in gain, efficiency, system range, and bandwidth whenever their size is reduced to less than a quarter-wavelength. Of course, with us humans being brilliant in our own right, there is always a workaround – in this case, using a 3D printing method that might end up in an electrically tiny antenna design. These fabrication techniques, however, are limited in both spatial resolution and dimensionality, and hence will be able to yield planar antennas which occupy a large area relative to the achieved performance. We’re pleased to know that this “conformal printing technique can be extended other potential applications, including flexible, implantable, and wearable antennas, electronics, and sensors”. Does this mean that there will be no more antennagate issues down the road after this?