Performance Enhancement of a Planar Slot Phased Array by Using Dual-Mode SIW Cavity and Coding Metasurface

This communication presents a planar phased array designed with an enhanced reflection bandwidth, a wide-angle scan, and a broadband low backscattering. On one hand, an improved substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-backed slot antenna which supports dual resonant modes is designed and utilized as the array element. The dual-resonance element presents the advantages of wideband reflection, wide-beam radiation, and compact size, which has the benefit for the wideband wide-angle scan of the proposed phased array. On the other hand, a coding metasurface, which consists of four specially arranged unit cells, is presented and surrounds the slot array. Based on the specially designed coding metasurface, the array gain is enhanced and a broadband scattering reduction is realized. Both simulated and experimental results indicate that the designed phased array supports a main-beam scan up to 60 degrees and a 3 dB beam coverage up to 75 degrees in an active reflection band of 10.1-11.6 GHz. Besides, the results also show that the radar cross section (RCS) has the reduction from 6.2 to 16.3 GHz and from 6.2 to 15.2 GHz for TM and TE polarizations, respectively.

Automated summary

The paper introduces a planar phased array with enhanced reflection bandwidth, wide-angle scan, and broadband low backscattering. By utilizing dual-resonance elements and a coding metasurface, the array achieves wide-beam coverage and reduced scattering.