Electromagnetic Engineered Surfaces for Versatile Antennas

用于多功能天线的电磁工程表面

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-05059
• 负责人: Laurin, JeanJacques
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: École Polytechnique de Montréal
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=754015
• 关键词: Electromagnetic; Engineered; Surfaces; Versatile; Antennas

Daily weather forecasts are derived from radars having their antenna beams scanning the sky continuously. Likewise, satellite communication systems need to scan or adapt their antenna coverage to minimize interference or modify their missions. These two examples illustrate the need for large radiating apertures with beam-reconfigurable capabilities. Innovative solutions proposed so far consist of Engineered Electromagnetic Surfaces (EES), reflectors or lenses, embedding electronic phase tuning components to control wave fronts. Although semiconductor devices and MEMS considered have very fast responses, they are limited in terms of loss and power handling (nonlinearity).The proposed research program will investigate a different family of reconfigurability mechanism, namely the physical movement of small antenna parts with electromechanical actuators. These actuators, although limited in speed, are not interacting with the antenna radiofrequency fields, and therefore do not introduce losses and nonlinearity. The actuators are also bulkier than semiconductor parts and require more complex control wiring, so their numbers should be minimized by using them in sub-reflectors or sub-lenses. One of the research goals will be to investigate trade-offs between the number of actuators on the EES and the achievable resolution of the beam shaping/scanning. This study will be done with three electromechanical concepts, which will also be investigated in terms of radiofrequency performance and ease of practical implementation. The first concept is a reflectarray with elements rotated with micromotors. Inverse phase synthesis methods to determine to optimal phase distribution of the limited size EES as a function of the desired antenna patterns will be developed and adapted to the chosen antenna architecture. The second concept is a stretchable magnetic membrane that can possibly be shaped with DC fields, i.e. with contactless actuators. In this case, the difficulty of the phase synthesis problem is augmented by the limitations of the membrane shaping and the prediction of the surface shape in a non-uniform field. The third concept is based on the change of propagation properties in a radiating guiding media loaded with mechanically modified materials. The goal will be to use this concept into a radar antenna scanning in elevation and azimuth.The research program will train four doctoral, four master and two undergraduate students in the Information Technologies and Communications (ICT) sector, with emphasis on aerospace applications, which is a flagship of Canadian high-technology industry. It covers theoretical electromagnetic analysis, inverse problem solutions, simulations, and novel radiofrequency hardware design, fabrication and tests.

每日天气预报来自雷达，其天线波束不断扫描天空。同样，卫星通信系统需要扫描或调整其天线覆盖范围，以尽量减少干扰或修改其任务。这两个例子说明了对具有波束可重构能力的大辐射孔径的需求。迄今为止提出的创新解决方案包括工程电磁表面（EES）、反射器或透镜，以及嵌入电子相位调谐组件来控制波前。尽管所考虑的半导体器件和 MEMS 具有非常快的响应，但它们在损耗和功率处理（非线性）方面受到限制。拟议的研究计划将研究不同系列的可重构机制，即带有机电致动器的小型天线部件的物理运动。这些执行器虽然速度有限，但不与天线射频场相互作用，因此不会引入损耗和非线性。执行器也比半导体部件体积大，并且需要更复杂的控制接线，因此应通过在副反射器或副透镜中使用它们来最大限度地减少其数量。研究目标之一是研究 EES 上的执行器数量与光束整形/扫描可实现的分辨率之间的权衡。这项研究将通过三个机电概念来完成，还将在射频性能和易于实际实施方面进行研究。 第一个概念是反射阵列，其元件通过微电机旋转。 将开发反相合成方法，以确定有限尺寸 EES 的最佳相位分布作为所需天线方向图的函数，并适应所选的天线架构。第二个概念是可拉伸磁性薄膜，可以通过直流场（即非接触式执行器）进行成形。在这种情况下，非均匀场中膜成形和表面形状预测的限制增加了相合成问题的难度。第三个概念是基于加载有机械改性材料的辐射引导介质中传播特性的变化。目标是将这一概念应用到雷达天线的仰角和方位角扫描中。该研究项目将在信息技术和通信（ICT）领域培养四名博士生、四名硕士生和两名本科生，重点关注航空航天应用，这是加拿大高科技产业的旗舰。它涵盖理论电磁分析、反问题解决方案、模拟以及新颖的射频硬件设计、制造和测试。