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Electronically Reconfigurable FSS-inspired Transmitarray for Two Dimensional Beamsteering

Reis, J. R. ; Caldeirinha, R. F. S. ; Hammoudeh, Akram Hammoudeh ; Copner, Nigel Copner

IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation Vol. 65, Nº 9, pp. 4880 - 4885, September, 2017.

ISSN (print): 0018-926X
ISSN (online): 1558-2221

Scimago Journal Ranking: 1,31 (in 2017)

Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/TAP.2017.2723087

Abstract
A novel electronically reconfigurable transmitarray with two-dimensional beamsteering capability is presented in this paper. The proposed structure, inspired on frequency selective surfaces loaded with varactor diodes, allows to the phase range of each transmitarray element to be individually controlled enabling an automated steering of the main lobe of an original antenna pattern, in both elevation and azimuth planes (2D-beamsteering). This has been demonstrated on a 5 × 5 unit-cell stacked structure with active feeding, coupled to the aperture of a standard gain horn antenna. A complete electromagnetic study using CST Microwave Studio is presented to evaluate and characterize the transmitarray elements and the effect the proposed feeding network has on the structure’s behavior. Following initial
simulations, a prototype of the active transmitarray have been characterized. Automated antenna beamsteering with ranges up to Az = 28º and El = 26º and 1º of angular resolution, is achieved by means of electromagnetic simulations and validated against experimental results at 5.2 GHz.