Title :
Reconfigurable liquid crystal reflectarray with extended tunable phase range
Author :
Bildik, Saygin ; Dieter, Sabine ; Fritzsch, Carsten ; Frei, Michael ; Fischer, Christoph ; Menzel, Wolfgang ; Jakoby, Rolf
Author_Institution :
Inst. of Microwave Eng. & Photonics, Tech. Univ. Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Abstract :
A coupled microstrip structure is investigated consisting of three fingerlike patches which are designed for liquid crystal technology. A unit cell based on the coupled structure is realized and characterized with a waveguide simulator. The proposed structure has a measured tunable phase range of 582°. It is used as an antenna element to design a reconfigurable reflectarray. The realized antenna is composed of 16×16 elements, and a slotted substrate integrated waveguide is used to illuminate it. Antenna patterns for desired main beam directions are synthesized at W-band with a developed Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm. Beam steering capability of the reflectarray is presented by steering the main beam to various angles applying the bias voltages obtained from the optimization algorithm.
Keywords :
antenna radiation patterns; beam steering; liquid crystals; microstrip antenna arrays; particle swarm optimisation; reflectarray antennas; slot antenna arrays; W-band; antenna patterns; beam steering capability; coupled microstrip structure; extended tunable phase range; liquid crystal technology; particle swarm optimization algorithm; reconfigurable liquid crystal reflectarray; slotted substrate integrated waveguide; Antenna measurements; Arrays; Feeds; Liquid crystals; Substrates; Voltage measurement;
Conference_Titel :
Radar Conference (EuRAD), 2011 European
Conference_Location :
Manchester
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4577-1156-5
