Malik Bilal Tariq, Khan Shahid, Koziel Slawomir
Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications, and Informatics, Gdansk University of Technology, 80-233, Gdansk, Poland.
Engineering Optimization and Modeling Center, Reykjavik University, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland.
Sci Rep. 2024 Oct 15;14(1):24086. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-75481-3.
A conformal reflective metasurface fed by a dual-band multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna is proposed for low-cost beam steering applications in 5G Millimeter-wave frequency bands. The beam steering is accomplished by selecting a specific port of MIMO antenna. Each MIMO port is associated with a beam that points in a different direction due to a conformal reflective metasurface. This novel conformal metasurface antenna design has the advantages of higher gain, lower cost, a simpler feeding source, and a lower profile when compared to traditional reflective metasurfaces using bulky horn antennas and phased arrays with complex feeding networks and phase shifters for beam steering. The proposed beam steering antenna consists of a compact five-element dual-band MIMO and a unit-cell conformal dual-band reflective metasurface placed at the top of the MIMO antenna to obtain the beam steering capability as well as gain enhancement. The proposed reflective metasurface has a stable response under oblique incidence angles of up to at 24 GHz and 38 GHz and its symmetric, single-layer structure, ensures polarization insensitivity and stable response under conformal conditions. The presented MIMO antenna design is not only compact but also offers a wideband response effectively covering the desired 5G mm-wave frequency bands. The overall size of the MIMO antenna alone is 70 12 with a maximum gain of 5.4 and 7.2 dB. It is further improved up to 13.1 and 14.2 dB at 24 and 38 GHz respectively, with a beam steering range of ś by using a conformal reflective metasurface. Unlike the existing beam steering strategies, the suggested method is not only cost-effective but also increases the overall directivity and gain of the source MIMO antenna. The measured results agree with the simulated results, making it a potential candidate in the 5G and beyond beam steering applications.
本文提出了一种由双频段多输入多输出（MIMO）天线馈电的共形反射超表面，用于5G毫米波频段的低成本波束转向应用。通过选择MIMO天线的特定端口来实现波束转向。由于共形反射超表面，每个MIMO端口都与指向不同方向的波束相关联。与使用笨重喇叭天线和具有复杂馈电网络及移相器用于波束转向的相控阵的传统反射超表面相比，这种新颖的共形超表面天线设计具有增益更高、成本更低、馈电源更简单以及外形更低的优点。所提出的波束转向天线由一个紧凑的五元双频段MIMO和一个放置在MIMO天线顶部的单元胞共形双频段反射超表面组成，以获得波束转向能力以及增益增强。所提出的反射超表面在高达24 GHz和38 GHz的斜入射角下具有稳定的响应，其对称的单层结构确保了在共形条件下的极化不敏感性和稳定响应。所展示的MIMO天线设计不仅紧凑，而且有效地提供了覆盖所需5G毫米波频段的宽带响应。仅MIMO天线的整体尺寸为70×12，最大增益为5.4 dB和7.2 dB。通过使用共形反射超表面，在24 GHz和38 GHz时分别进一步提高到13.1 dB和14.2 dB，波束转向范围为±。与现有的波束转向策略不同，所建议的方法不仅具有成本效益，而且还增加了源MIMO天线的整体方向性和增益。测量结果与模拟结果一致，使其成为5G及以后波束转向应用中的潜在候选方案。
