Sub-GHz Broadband Multi-channel Waveguiding Based on Subwavelength Wire Media

Abstract

The paper involves the development of a new type of image transfer. With this aim the multi-channel waveguide was considered in a novel representation – it was based on a wire media structure where each space between each four the closest wires is a single subchannel. The utilized wire media (WM) structure has 10-by-10 wires dimensions and 150 mm of the length, thus the first Fabry-Perot resonance appears around 0.9-1 GHz. The goal is to show the broadband multi-channel imaging at frequencies lower than the first Fabry-Perot resonance that means the considered structure tends to electrically short size that has not been studied previously. Taking into account the multi-channel principle of the wire media, the imaging can be performed as a binary one. For this reason, each single channel is fed by individual electromagnetic (EM) source that is a dipole antenna in the non-resonant mode. The reason is to use a weak source and match it with a single channel because in the other case the dipole is perfectly matched at the defined resonance frequency. It was found in the paper that the broadband transfer is possible in the frequency range-under-study and impossible at the region of the first Fabry-Perot resonance due to the perfect complex interaction between all wires of structure. As evidence, a simultaneous transfer of EM power from several independent EM sources shaped as R-letter was performed in the frequency range from 0.3 to 0.75 GHz by simulations and experimental investigations. The clear recovery of the transferred letter is possible in the case when it performs not at the frequency of Fabry-Perot and for the enough value of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The binary recovery of the transferred image became possible in the paper with an additional post-image processing with a threshold method involvement.