Electronically reconfigurable aperture (ERA): A new approach for beam-steering technology

Analysis and design of new electronically reconfigurable periodic leaky-wave antennas

“…Also, it is thought that this antenna presents potential for scalability; the technology in which this antenna is implemented can be easily scaled to millimeter or even THz frequencies with the current manufacturing technologies, and in addition, the structure allows the integration of other tuning devices more convenient for such higher frequencies (MEMS, liquid crystal, piezoelectric actuators…). This advantages are not found in other technologies such as phased arrays ( [Hansen 1998], [Rock 2008], [Manasson 2010…”

“…In concept, reconfigurable apertures represent the ideal functionality of reconfigurable antennas in that they allow the complete specification of radiating currents that can produce any desired frequency and radiation behavior. The challenge lies in developing real structures and control mechanisms that can support this functionality ( [Bernhard 2005], [Manasson 2010]).…”

“…In Alphones 1995], [Horn 1980], [Huan 2000, [Chang 1999], [Chicherin 2011-I, II], [Karmokar 2013], ). In these cases, the number of possible angles is given by the density of switches along the line and the number of combinations ( [Karmokar 2013], [Manasson 2010]). Luxey and Noujeim studied the effect of reactive loads on microstrip LWAs, observing potential for continuous beam-steering at fixed frequency ([Luxey 2000], [Noujeim 1998[Noujeim , 2003).…”

“…This advantage is not always found in every technology. As an example, it was mentioned in the introduction of this thesis that phased arrays ( [Hansen 1998], [Rock 2008], [Manasson 2010], [Raisanen 2012]) present several technical issues when the operating frequency is increased. In this field, recent innovations have been published from EPFL, where it has been developed for first time an original fixed-frequency beam-steering LWA in graphene to operate at THz bands ([Esquius-Morote]).…”

“…Frequency scanning is inherent to the dispersive nature of LWAs and has been widely studied for several leaky-wave structures ( [Fralich 1992], , [Oliner 1979[Oliner , 1985, [Walter 1965]…) and exploited for some scanning applications ( [Bernhard 2005], [Oliner 2007] ). Continuous scan of the main beam has been obtained employing tunable materials, such as ferrite LWAs ([Maheri 1988], [Varadan 1994]), microstrip LWAs over a ferroelectric substrate ([Yashchyshyn 2005-I], [Lovat 2007 Matsuzawa 2005Matsuzawa , 2006, [Roig 2013]), or semiconductor substrates with surface PIN diodes (S-PIN) ( ], [Manasson 2010], [Yashchyshyn 2009[Yashchyshyn , 2010) have been also employed ( [Taylor 2003-I], [Yashchyshyn 2005-II] [Matsuzawa 2007]). However, the most used active device to electronically control 1D LWAs in the microwave range is the varactor diode, which has been applied to multitude of leaky lines as the slotline ( [Chen 2002]), the first higher-order mode microstrip line ( [Noujeim 2003]), the composite right-left handed (CRLH) microstrip line ( -I,2004), the microstrip logperiodic line [Augustin 2005], the half-mode microstrip line [Archbold 2010], [Ouegraogo 2011], and the half-mode substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) ( [Suntives 2011[Suntives , 2012…”