A Millimeter-Wave Multibeam Transparent Transmitarray Antenna at Ka-Band

Abstract

This letter presents a transmitarray antenna (TA) in the 27.5-29.5 GHz frequency band. The proposed TA is optically transparent and offers the possibility of steering the beam in the H-plane from -30° to 30°. One can achieve these properties using a novel unit-cell, composed of meshed double-circle rings printed on polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrates, a plastic material transparent to visible light. This unit-cell provides a phase-shift of 300° for an insertion loss lower than 1 dB at 28.5 GHz. In turn, the TA sources consist of 2×2-element arrays of aperture-coupled stacked patch antennas. The choice of a patch array over a horn array allows one to reduce the total profile and weight of the TA. We have fabricated and tested a transparent TA with a diameter of 9.9 wavelengths at 28.5 GHz, yielding a broadside gain of 25 dBi and -1 dB gain bandwidth of 1.8 GHz, off-axis 30° beam presents a peak gain of 21.5 dBi and -1 dB gain bandwidth of 1.4 GHz. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated ones all over the frequency band of interest.Index Terms-transmitarray antennas, millimeter waves, multi-beam antenna, aperture-coupled stacked patch array, transparent antennas.

Transparent Antenna for Green Communication Feature: A Systematic Review on Taxonomy Analysis, Open Challenges, Motivations, Future Directions and Recommendations

“…The literature depicts the use of other materials for the development of transparent antenna. These include Array Antennas using a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrates with aperture-coupled microstrip patch (ACMP) antennas for Ka-band [78] , or using a extruded acrylic material for satellite communications [79] , or using a DRA transmit array for 12 GHz usages [80] . and transparent antenna can be a Mesh antennas using a Borosilicate glass with solar cell ground plane for multifunctional solar antenna devices [67], or using a Fire Retardant-4 (FR4) for cube satellites (CubeSats) and Other Small Satellites application [11], or using a Roger's RO4003C laminate for antenna arrays application [81].…”

“…This is because; most integrated wireless systems rely on batteries that suffer from various disadvantages, such as substantial maintenance costs [63]. In order to limit beam steering speed in mechanical motor platform, transparent TA(TTA) can switch the beam in Hplane at Ka-band [78], while concurrently increasing the cost of RFID [84].…”

“…One solution is to generate electricity from temperature gradients on a window [39], In favor of making the antenna suitable, two types of antenna have been proposed in addition to preparing spatial, beam, and directional diversity to receive power [55], The optically transparent antenna enables the set up in a wider space [54]. The transmitarray (TA) is optically transparent and has the potential for beam steering in H-plane, as well as robustness mechanical [78]. A multi-port antenna can also increase RF power [50].…”

A simple design of SIW horn fed multibeam transmitarray antenna using transmission matrix approach

“…The trends towards the low‐profile, beam‐scanning ability of TA has encouraged the design and development of different beam‐scanning TA. Liu, et al, have proposed a TA with multibeam and give the possibility of steering the beam from −30° to 30° . A metasurface (MTS) based lens antenna with the beam scan range of ±26° has been designed in Reference .…”

“…Liu, et al, have proposed a TA with multibeam and give the possibility of steering the beam from −30 to 30 . 6 A metasurface (MTS) based lens antenna with the beam scan range of AE26 has been designed in Reference 7. A TA with five beams within AE4.8 and a 3-dB angular coverage of 13.2 is demonstrated in Reference 8.…”