XYZ-On-a-Chip: Micromachined Magnetically Reconfigurable Frequency Selective Surfaces

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This grant provides funding for the research and development of reconfigurable Frequency Selective Surfaces (FSSs). FFSs are periodic structures that can provide frequency filtering to electromagnetic signals from wireless and satellite communication systems. With the proper design of the size and spacing of an array of conductive dipole elements, one is able to select the overall frequency response and bandwidth of the structure. Although FSSs have been studied rigorously over the years, FSSs have experienced tremendous growth in the last ten years with new applications emerging. The primary utilization of they has been as frequency filters (diplexers) in high-performance reflector-antenna systems, advanced radome designs, and smart surfaces for stealth applications. In many of these applications it is highly desirable to be able to adaptively reconfigure the frequency and bandwidth response of the FSS. However, a fundamental challenge has been to develop methods of achieving significant high-speed reconfigurability without compromising filtering performance.Although FSSs are typically made with static in-plane elements, it has been observed that rotating the dipole elements out of the plane of the surface strongly alters the frequency response of the surface. In addition, recent advances and developments in micromachining and MEMS technologies provide a new approach to this problem. The reconfigurability of the FSS proposed here, is enabled by the integration of novel magnetic microactuator arrays positioned in the x-y plane of the surface and capable of large out-of-plane rotations (0 degrees to 90 degrees) that tune its frequency bandwidth response. To maximize magnetic microactuator performance, permanent magnetic materials will be integrated into the array by newly developed electrodeposition processes. The goal of this project is to design, fabricate, and test micromachined reconfigurable FSSs for signals at K-band (26-40 GHz), Q-band (40 GHz), W-band (60 GHz), and higher frequencies.