Reconfigurable reflectarray antenna using single‐layer radiator controlled by PIN diodes

Abstract

A new type of pattern-reconfigurable reflectarray phased by reconfigurable unit cells that are centrally controlled by a laptop is presented. The proposed reflectarray with single-layer radiators employs a phasing element formed by a fixed-size circular ring attached by a variable-length arc phase delay line controlled by positive-intrinsic-negative diodes. The biasing network of the diodes is properly designed to minimise the interference between the radiating structure and the biasing circuit. To that end, the biasing circuit is placed on a substrate layer below the ground plane whereas the PIN switching diodes are embedded within radiators. The biasing signal is transmitted to the switching elements at the top layer using vias that penetrate the thin substrate layer, the foam layer and the ground plane. Investigations are carried out to verify the performances of the phasing element using a waveguide simulator. A reflectarray, which includes a C-band offset fed 8 × 8 elements, is configured to switch its main beam between 20°and 30°from the broadside direction. A biasing control unit is added to the fabricated reflectarray and activated using a laptop. The measured radiation patterns of the proposed reflectarray demonstrate a beam-switching characteristic from the broadside direction, which confirm the proposed design method.

A circular polarized reflectarray antenna with electronically steerable beam and interchangeable polarizations

“…Depending on the acceptable SLL and required gain, the maximum steering angle of the reflectarray antenna can be determined. According to equations (10) and (11), the beam of the designed reflectarray antenna can steer in any f and θ directions. In order to show the beam steering of the antenna in all directions, the 2D and 3D views of radiation patterns are illustrated in Note that the DAC board in subsection "digital-to-analog converter" supports 40 analog channels.…”

“…The circular polarized EBG are introduced in [9, 10], which cannot steer the antenna beam. A reflectarray antenna with limited steering angle is proposed in [11]. In this paper, a reflectarray antenna with capabilities of electronically beam steerable up to ±40 o is designed.…”

A Narrow Beam, Beam Steerable and Low Side-Lobe Reflectarray Based on Macro Electro-Mechanical Technique

“…In the second category, the elements on a reflectarray aperture are equipped with a phase-tuning mechanism, essentially utilizing the mechanical nature of the antenna. In recent years, many methods have been applied to unit-cell designing able to vary phase such as varactor and PIN diodes [10,11], micro-electromechanical switches (MEMS) [12], functional materials [13], and micro-motors [14,15].…”

Planar antenna beam deflection using low‐loss metamaterial for future 5G applications

“…The mechanical technique provides better performance in terms of large scan angle, but with low switching speed . On the other hand, the electronic approach is ordinarily carried out using active devices with the advantages of low‐profile structures and high switching speed through the tilting process . These devices include the PIN diode and varactor diode.…”

“…7 On the other hand, the electronic approach is ordinarily carried out using active devices with the advantages of low-profile structures and high switching speed through the tilting process. 8,9 These devices include the PIN diode and varactor diode. The phased array antenna-based liquid crystal and beam-forming networks (BFN) like the Butler matrix have also utilized to achieve the beam deflection.…”