Reconfigurable transmitarrays at Ka-Band with beam-forming and polarization agility

Antonio Clemente (1) , Reda Madi (1) , Francesco Foglia Manzillo (1) , Maciej Smierzchalski (1) , Jacques Reverdy (1) , Ronan Sauleau (2)

1 DSYS - Département Systèmes
2 IETR - Institut d'Électronique et des Technologies du numéRique

This paper presents transmitarray-based antenna solutions for SATCOM transmit (Tx) user terminals at Ka-band. We propose a new electronically-reconfigurable unit-cell structure which combines a 2-bit phase control with circular polarization agility. Six p-i-n diodes are integrated into the proposed unit cell implemented by stacking two halfwavelength periodic structures: a reconfigurable phase-shift module and a switchable linear-to-circular polarization converter. The two structures, developed on a standard PCB stack-up, are separated by an optimized air gap. A 576-element square transmitarray with 3456 integrated p-i-n diodes has been designed, optimized, and fabricated. To enhance the advantages of this innovative architecture, its performance is compared to the one of our previous transmitarray demonstration based on a random sequential combination of 576 vertically- and horizontally-polarized 2-bit reconfigurable unit-cells. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of transmitarray with two stacked reconfigurable functionalities.

Mots clés: transmitarray antennas; SATCOM; beam- forming; electronic beam-scanning; electronic polarization control; linear-to-circular poalrization converter; wide scanning; T-RIS

Domaines: Energie électrique

Antonio Clemente, Reda Madi, Francesco Foglia Manzillo, Maciej Smierzchalski, Jacques Reverdy, et al.. Reconfigurable transmitarrays at Ka-Band with beam-forming and polarization agility. EuCAP 2023 - European Conference of Antennas and Propagation, Mar 2023, Florence, Italy. ⟨10.23919/EuCAP57121.2023.10133517⟩. ⟨cea-04143873v2⟩