Metamaterial-enabled beam scanning antenna

Abstract

There is disclosed a leaky-wave antenna device comprising a first metasurface comprising a first dielectric substrate having a first array of conductive elements and a second metasurface comprising a second dielectric substrate having a second array of conductive elements. The antenna device further comprises a conductive ground plane, a micro-actuator, and a feed comprising a pair of switchable dipoles. The first and second metasurfaces and the conductive ground plane are in a stacked arrangement and substantially parallel to one another, with the first metasurface located between the second metasurface and the conductive ground plane. A spacing between the conductive ground plane and the first metasurface is adjustable by operation of the micro-actuator. The feed is disposed between the first and second metasurfaces at a location corresponding to a centre of the first and second arrays. The leaky-wave antenna device may be operated to steer a beam over a wide range by selective energising of the pair of dipoles and by adjusting the spacing between the conductive ground plane and the first metasurface.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.