2-bit reconfigurable unit-cell and electronically steerable transmitarray at Ka-band

Fatimata Diaby (1, 2) , Antonio Clemente (1, 2) , Ronan Sauleau (3) , Trung Kien Pham (3, 4) , Laurent Dussopt (1, 2)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes
3 IETR - Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique
4 VNU-HCM - Vietnam National University - Ho Chi Minh City

This communication presents the design, optimization, fabrication, and characterization of an electronically steerable transmitarray (TA) with 2 bits of phase quantization per unit cell. The proposed TA operates in linear polarization at Ka-band and is composed of 14 × 14 reconfigurable unit-cells. Four p-i-n diodes are integrated on each unit-cell to control the radiated field phase distribution across the TA aperture. The prototype demonstrates experimentally pencil beam scanning over a 120° × 120° window, a maximum gain at broadside of 19.8 dBi, and a 3 dB fractional bandwidth of 16.2%.

Keywords: Transmitarray antennas; beam steering; beam forming; Ka-band; discrete lens; electronically steerable antenna

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]

Fatimata Diaby, Antonio Clemente, Ronan Sauleau, Trung Kien Pham, Laurent Dussopt. 2-bit reconfigurable unit-cell and electronically steerable transmitarray at Ka-band. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 2020, 68 (6), pp.5003-5008. ⟨10.1109/TAP.2019.2955655⟩. ⟨cea-03637113⟩