Design and Measurements of a High-Performance Wideband Transmitarray Antenna for D-Band Communications

A low-cost dual linearly polarized transmitarray antenna (TA) is presented for 5G and beyond networks at D-band. This TA is made of 40 x 40 unit-cells (UCs) and is illuminated by a stepped feed horn with a F/D ratio equal to 0.75. The flat lens panel is based on UCs with six different phase states at the center frequency of 150 GHz (thus leading in average to a 2 bit phase quantization and 0.7 dB insertion loss from 130 to 175 GHz). Each UC is made of only three metal layers and does not include any via connection to guarantee performance robustness with respect to fabrication dispersions. The measured 1 dB and 3 dB TA gain bandwidths equal 16.8% and 19.8%, respectively, with a peak gain of 32 dBi, corresponding to an aperture efficiency of 32% at 150 GHz. The measured sidelobe and cross-polarization levels in E- and H-planes remain below -21 and -37 dB, respectively. An excellent agreement between measured and simulated radiation patterns was observed.

Automated summary

A low-cost dual linearly polarized transmitarray antenna designed for 5G and beyond networks at D-band was presented. The antenna achieved a peak gain of 32 dBi at 150 GHz with excellent aperture efficiency. The measured radiation patterns showed good agreement with simulated results, demonstrating the robust performance of the antenna.