Bandwidth reconfigurable metamaterial arrays

Metamaterial structures provide innovative ways to manipulate electromagnetic wave responses to realize new applications. This paper presents a conformal wideband metamaterial array that achieves as much as 10: 1 continuous bandwidth. This was done by using interelement coupling to concurrently achieve significant wave slow-down and cancel the inductance stemming from the ground plane. The corresponding equivalent circuit of the resulting array is the same as that of classic metamaterial structures. In this paper, we present a wideband Marchand-type balun with validation measurements demonstrating the metamaterial (MTM) array\u27s bandwidth from 280 MHz to 2800 MHz. Bandwidth reconfiguration of this class of array is then demonstrated achieving a variety of band-pass or band-rejection responses within its original bandwidth. In contrast with previous bandwidth and frequency response reconfigurations, our approach does not change the aperture\u27s or ground plane\u27s geometry, nor does it introduce external filtering structures. Instead, the new responses are realized by making simple circuit changes into the balanced feed integrated with the wideband MTM array. A variety of circuit changes can be employed using MEMS switches or variable lumped loads within the feed and 5 example band-pass and band-rejection responses are presented. These demonstrate the potential of the MTM array\u27s reconfiguration to address a variety of responses. © 2014 Nathanael J. Smith et al

Challenges in Clock Synchronization for On-Site Coding Digital Beamformer

Typical radio frequency (RF) digital beamformers can be highly complex. In addition to a suitable antenna array, they require numerous receiver chains, demodulators, data converter arrays, and digital signal processors. To recover and reconstruct the received signal, synchronization is required since the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analog converters (DACs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAS), and local oscillators are all clocked at different frequencies. In this article, we present a clock synchronization topology for a multichannel on-site coding receiver (OSCR) using the FPGA as a master clock to drive all RF blocks. This approach reduces synchronization errors by a factor of 8, when compared to conventional digital beamformer

A comprehensive survey of "metamaterial transmission-line based antennas: design, challenges, and applications"

In this review paper, a comprehensive study on the concept, theory, and applications of composite right/left-handed transmission lines (CRLH-TLs) by considering their use in antenna system designs have been provided. It is shown that CRLH-TLs with negative permittivity (ε < 0) and negative permeability (μ < 0) have unique properties that do not occur naturally. Therefore, they are referred to as artificial structures called "metamaterials". These artificial structures include series left-handed (LH) capacitances (CL), shunt LH inductances (LL), series right-handed (RH) inductances (LR), and shunt RH capacitances (CR) that are realized by slots or interdigital capacitors, stubs or via-holes, unwanted current flowing on the surface, and gap distance between the surface and ground-plane, respectively. In the most cases, it is also shown that structures based on CRLH metamaterial-TLs are superior than their conventional alternatives, since they have smaller dimensions, lower-profile, wider bandwidth, better radiation patterns, higher gain and efficiency, which make them easier and more cost-effective to manufacture and mass produce. Hence, a broad range of metamaterial-based design possibilities are introduced to highlight the improvement of the performance parameters that are rare and not often discussed in available literature. Therefore, this survey provides a wide overview of key early-stage concepts of metematerial-based designs as a thorough reference for specialist antennas and microwave circuits designers. To analyze the critical features of metamaterial theory and concept, several examples are used. Comparisons on the basis of physical size, bandwidth, materials, gain, efficiency, and radiation patterns are made for all the examples that are based on CRLH metamaterial-TLs. As revealed in all the metematerial design examples, foot-print area decrement is an important issue of study that have a strong impact for the enlargement of the next generation wireless communication systems

Gain Enhancement of a Wide Slot Antenna Using a Second-Order Bandpass Frequency Selective Surface

Gain enhancement of a wide slot antenna over a wide frequency band using a low profile, second order bandpass frequency selective surface (FSS) as a superstrate is presented in this paper. The proposed multilayered FSS with non-resonant unit cells in each layer allows in-phase transmission of waves radiated from the antenna over a 3dB bandwidth of about 50%. The design allows an enhancement of upto 4dBi in the antenna gain over the entire frequency band (5-8GHz) of operation. The FSS provides a very low insertion loss between the two transmission poles along with a linearly decreasing transmission phase over the band. The composite structure shows an impedance bandwidth (-10dB) of 65% with an average gain between 6-8dBi over the frequency band with a peak gain of 9dBi. Measurement results of the fabricated prototype matches well with the predicted values

A Comprehensive Survey of 'Metamaterial Transmission-Line Based Antennas: Design, Challenges, and Applications'

In this review paper, a comprehensive study on the concept, theory, and applications of composite right/left-handed transmission lines (CRLH-TLs) by considering their use in antenna system designs have been provided. It is shown that CRLH-TLs with negative permittivity (epsilon < 0) and negative permeability (mu < 0) have unique properties that do not occur naturally. Therefore, they are referred to as artificial structures called "metamaterials". These artificial structures include series left-handed (LH) capacitances (C-L), shunt LH inductances (L-L), series right-handed (RH) inductances (L-R), and shunt RH capacitances (C-R) that are realized by slots or interdigital capacitors, stubs or via-holes, unwanted current flowing on the surface, and gap distance between the surface and ground-plane, respectively. In the most cases, it is also shown that structures based on CRLH metamaterial-TLs are superior than their conventional alternatives, since they have smaller dimensions, lower-profile, wider bandwidth, better radiation patterns, higher gain and efficiency, which make them easier and more cost-effective to manufacture and mass produce. Hence, a broad range of metamaterial-based design possibilities are introduced to highlight the improvement of the performance parameters that are rare and not often discussed in available literature. Therefore, this survey provides a wide overview of key early-stage concepts of metematerial-based designs as a thorough reference for specialist antennas and microwave circuits designers. To analyze the critical features of metamaterial theory and concept, several examples are used. Comparisons on the basis of physical size, bandwidth, materials, gain, efficiency, and radiation patterns are made for all the examples that are based on CRLH metamaterial-TLs. As revealed in all the metematerial design examples, foot-print area decrement is an important issue of study that have a strong impact for the enlargement of the next generation wireless communication systems

A Novel Monofilar-Archimedean Metamaterial Inspired Leaky-Wave Antenna for Scanning Application for Passive Radar Systems

A novel backfire-to-endfire leaky-wave antenna is presented with ability to scan from -25ο to +45ο. The antenna is based on metamaterial transmission-lines (MTM-TLs) and is implemented using Monofilar Archimedean spiral and rectangular slots, spiral inductors and metallic via-holes. The slots act as series left-handed capacitances, and the spirals with via-holes provide the shunt left-handed inductances to realize the metamaterial antenna. A prototype antenna was fabricated prototype on FR4 dielectric substrate, which has an electrical size of 0.0302λo×0.0357λo×0.0008λo, where λo is free space wavelength at 165 MHz. Measured bandwidth of the antenna is 710 MHz (165-875 MHz) corresponding to a fractional bandwidth of 136.5%. The main advantage of the antenna is its ability to scan over a wide angle from -25 degrees to +45 degrees with acceptable gain and radiation efficiency of 1.2 dBi and 50.1%, respectively, measured at 400 MHz. The wide scanning attributes of the antenna make it suitable for passive radar applications to scan across the VHF-UHF bands for FM-Radio, television, mobile phones and GPS applications