Fabry-Perot Antenna Employing Artificial Magnetic Conductors and Phase Gradient Metasurface for Wideband Monostatic RCS Reduction and High Gain Tilted Beam Radiation

oleh: Hassan Umair, Tarik Bin Abdul Latef, Yoshihide Yamada, Tayyab Hassan, Wan Nor Liza Binti Wan Mahadi, Mohamadariff Othman, Kamilia Kamardin, Mousa I. Hussein

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: IEEE 2021-01-01

Deskripsi

Platforms with low radar signatures require compatible antennas (low scattering) for communication purposes. Under this context, the article presents two Fabry-Perot (FP) Cavity antennas (Ant-1 and Ant-2). Ant-1&#x2019;s aperture is an integrated design of artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) surface and a phase gradient metasurface (PGM), incorporating three unit-cell structures. The antenna achieves reduced monostatic scattering over broad bandwidth, and simultaneously obtains high gain as well as tilted beam peak radiation. Patch radiating at 7 GHz forms excitation source of the cavity, and cavity height is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.33\lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, smaller than the heights of conventional cavity designs (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula>/2). RCS reduction is obtained over a bandwidth of 105.8&#x0025; (4-13 GHz) for arbitrary polarizations, covering C/X bands. Antenna gain is 12 dB, and peak radiation tilt is &#x2212;60&#x00B0; in elevation plane. Simulations have been verified through fabricated prototype. Ant-2 is a modification of Ant-1. Ant-2&#x2019;s aperture is constructed from two unit-cell structures, and its aperture size is 41&#x0025; smaller than Ant-1. Its cavity height is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.3\lambda $ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Ant-2 also achieves wideband backscattering reduction; however, due to asymmetric layout of unit-cell elements over the aperture, radar cross section (RCS) reduction bandwidth is different for the two polarizations. For vertically polarized (VP) incident wave, RCS reduction bandwidth is 105.8&#x0025; (4-13 GHz), but for horizontally polarized (HP) wave, it is 85.7&#x0025; (5.2-13 GHz). Nevertheless, broadband RCS reduction is still achieved for both polarizations. Peak gain is 11.73 dB, achieved at &#x2212;37&#x00B0; tilt angle. Simulations are presented for Ant-2. Compared to literature, both antennas show various improved results.