Department of Automation and Applied Informatics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1117 Budapest, Hungary.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 May 12;22(10):3680. doi: 10.3390/s22103680.
Infrared antennas with reconfigurable characteristics offer several advantages in the medical, military, telecommunication and energy harvesting areas, while their design and implementation is a particularly challenging task for the researchers. This paper proposes a pixel antenna, designed for mid-infrared frequencies with a bandwidth more than 25 THz, consisting of 3 × 3 square metallic planar patches. Bolometer-based switches are placed between the adjacent pixels in order to obtain the adaptable characteristics, optimized for the incoming infrared radiation. The incident wave from a certain direction will heat up the bolometers. Consequently, the conductivity of these bolometers (PTC) will be decreased, and as a result they can be considered to turn to OFF state. The simulation results suggest that the proposed structure can steer the antenna pattern toward the direction of the incident radiation in an adaptable manner, thereby considerably increasing the antenna gain. The gain of the antenna can be increased up to 2 dB with respect to the reference one, which makes it a promising structure for various applications.
具有可重构特性的红外天线在医学、军事、电信和能量收集等领域具有多项优势，而其设计和实现对研究人员来说是一项极具挑战性的任务。本文提出了一种像素天线，设计用于中红外频率，带宽超过 25 THz，由 3×3 个方形金属平面贴片组成。在相邻像素之间放置基于测辐射热计的开关，以获得可适应特性，针对入射红外辐射进行优化。来自某个方向的入射波将加热测辐射热计。因此，这些测辐射热计（PTC）的电导率将会降低，结果它们可以被认为处于关闭状态。仿真结果表明，所提出的结构可以以可适应的方式将天线方向图转向入射辐射的方向，从而显著提高天线增益。与参考天线相比，天线增益可提高 2 dB，这使其成为各种应用的有前途的结构。
