Layer Frequency Selective Surface Research Articles

Polarization-insensitive graphene-based band-notched frequency selective absorber at terahertz

This paper introduces a new polarization-insensitive graphene-based frequency selective absorber (FSA) with a reflective notch designed for terahertz applications. The proposed structure features two absorption bands on either side of a central reflection band. The design composes a lossy frequency selective surface (FSS), a bandstop FSS with a metal backing, and an air spacer between. A wideband absorber structure is developed in the first step, leveraging graphene as an absorbent material in the lossy layer to achieve wideband absorptive characteristics. Subsequently, a reflection band is introduced by integrating a bandstop, lossless FSS layer into the absorber structure. The overall structure demonstrates two distinct absorption bands, characterized by absorptivity exceeding 80% within the frequency ranges of 0.30 to 0.57 and 0.67 to 0.90 THz. Simultaneously, a reflection notch is achieved at 0.60 THz. Extensive simulations assessed the performance of the designed FSA. The proposed structure exhibits stability under oblique incidence up to 40 deg and allows tunable absorption specifications by adjusting the chemical potential of graphene. It is noteworthy that the FSA reflector offers advantages such as eliminating the need for complicated, high-cost 3-D structures and welding of the lumped resistors.

Improvement in notch band characteristics of a hexagonal super wideband antenna by interfering back radiation out of phase with front radiation using frequency selective surface

SummaryA band‐notched super wideband (SWB) planar monopole antenna with improved notch characteristics is proposed in this article. A hexagonal SWB antenna operating in the frequency range from 3.04 to 36 GHz is initially designed on Arlon substrate. The hexagonal patch is then loaded with optimum sized U‐shaped slot to eliminate WLAN band (5.15–5.85 GHz). The notch band's characteristics are further improved by incorporating a frequency selective surface (FSS) of a square array at a specific distance below the antenna to introduce a phase delay of 180° between the back radiation reflected by the FSS with the front radiation at the notched frequency. Improvement of notch band gain, efficiency, and antenna front‐to‐back ratio (FBR) are studied. The antenna without embedding an FSS exhibits working spectrum from 3.1 to 33.6 GHz with notch frequency gain of −2.6 dBi and efficiency 53%. The inclusion of an FSS layer at 25.2 mm behind the antenna results in notch frequency gain of −7.6 dBi with an efficiency of 23%. FBR improvement of about 16 dB is achieved at 8 GHz, and FBR is reduced by about 5 dB at the notch frequency. 169% fractional bandwidth with bandwidth dimension ratio (BDR) of 1622 is achieved in this proposed FSS integrated antenna. The inclusion of FSS to improve the band elimination performance represents the novelty of this proposal. The data are validated by electromagnetic simulation and physical measurement techniques.

Wideband dual‐polarized rasorber design with genetic algorithm synthesis

AbstractIn this letter, an 11 GHz centered wideband absorptive frequency selective surface (FSS) design is presented. The absorptive FSS is dual polarized, and it has wide transmission band and a wide absorption band at the lower frequency side of the transmission band. An octagon shape with parallel microstrips toward center connected with lumped element resistors at the edges is proposed for the resistive layer unit element. Also, a multilayer octagon patch and aperture resonator are proposed for the wideband bandpass layer. As an alternative design method, the unit element of resistive layer of absorptive FSS is synthesized by a genetic algorithm code successfully. Genetic algorithm synthesis provides straightforward synthesis process compared to conventional method. Designed absorptive FSS is manufactured and frequency response is measured with WR‐90 waveguide setup. The measurement result of 1 dB transmission bandwidth is between 9.43 and 12.50 GHz with a minimum insertion loss of 0.65 dB.

Dual-Band Frequency Selective Surface-Backed Reflectarray for High-Speed Ka-Band Satellites

A dual-band, dual-polarized frequency selective surface (FSS)-backed multilayer reflectarray antenna is designed for 5G high-speed satellites operating at Ka-band uplink and downlink frequencies (20/30 GHz). A reflectarray antenna system consists of two reflectarrays that are separated from each other by an FSS layer that behaves as a planar bandpass filter at Ka-band satellite uplink frequencies. Each reflectarray antenna is designed with dual-polarized unit cells. In order to achieve a uniform phase distribution across the reflectarray surface, physical dimensions and positions of the unit cells with a fixed periodicity are carefully chosen. The FSS conductor is etched to the bottom layer of the 30 GHz reflectarray substrate to save cost and weight. The reflectarray performance is analyzed by using CST Microwave Studio and array theory. A prototype is fabricated, and the results are experimentally verified. The gain of the reflectarray is measured as 21.13 dBi and 26.94 dBi at 20 and 30 GHz, respectively. A crosspol level of more than 35 dB is observed at both frequencies. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed reflectarray is suitable for high-speed Ka-band satellites.

A simple planar single layered frequency selective surface with band-stop and bandpass characteristic

A simple planar single layered frequency selective surface with band-stop and bandpass characteristic

Ultra-wideband thin frequency-selective surface absorber against sheet resistance fluctuation

The design of thin frequency selective surface (FSS) absorber based on resistive film that meets the requirements of broadband, polarization independence, incident angle stability, and strong absorption is a challenging task. Fabrication tolerance of resistive film can result in fluctuations in sheet resistance, which negatively affects the absorber performance. To tackle these problems, this work firstly investigates how sheet resistance fluctuations affect the absorbing performance of resistive film FSS absorber. The analysis of simulated surface current density distribution and impedance reveals that the diversity of current paths provides an effective way to mitigate the influence of sheet resistance fluctuation. This is achieved by enabling flexible variation of surface current in response to sheet resistance fluctuations. Consequently, the variation of input impedance of the FSS absorber due to the fluctuation of sheet resistance is suppressed within a small range. Then, a method of extending bandwidth is proposed by employing the complementary variation of FSS impedance with frequency at different layers. By combining this approach with a miniaturization design, a thin and light FSS absorber is developed that exhibits ultra-wide bandwidth, polarization independence and angle stability while mitigating the effects of sheet resistance perturbation. The proposed FSS absorber achieves a 90% absorption bandwidth from 1.50 GHz to 20.50 GHz, covering Ku, X, C, S bands and part of the L and K bands, with a relative bandwidth reaching 173%. The absorber has a thickness of 0.093<i>λ</i><sub>L</sub> for both transverse electric (TE) polarization and transverse magnetic (TM) polarization, yielding a figure of merit (FoM, the ratio of the theoretical minimum thickness to the actual thickness) of 0.95, indicating that the thickness is close to the theoretical limit. The absorber maintains over 90% absorption rate for TM polarization at an incidence angle of up to 70°, and 80% absorption for TE polarization at 45°. Furthermore, the 90% absorbance bandwidth of the absorber remains at 167.0% when the sheet resistance of any FSS layer fluctuates within a range from 12 to 30 Ω/sq. A prototype of the proposed FSS absorber is fabricated and measured, and the experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results, thus validating the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Ultrathin and conformal frequency selective surfaces bandpass filter to eliminate the 5G bands on radio altimeters

AbstractThis work proposes a frequency‐selective surface‐based radome structure to selectively allow the radar altimeter operating band and also minimize the interference from Sub‐6GHz 5 G frequency bands. A Jerusalem cross and combinational loop (JCL) based frequency selective surfaces (FSS) unit cell of overall dimension 0.37λ was synthesized using a thin flexible substrate for use in fuselage of airborne systems. The proposed FSS unit cell exhibits transmission zero at 3.61 and 6.025 GHz and highly selective pass band at 4.3 GHz. The effect of bends and angle of incidence on the frequency response of the synthesized FSS was studied in transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes. A lumped element‐based equivalent circuit model for the proposed design was also presented. Finally, the fabricated prototype was experimentally validated in an Anechoic chamber setup and the suitability of the proposed FSS layers for aviation radar systems was confirmed.

A configuration to double the gain of pyramidal horn antenna using single layer frequency selective surface

AbstractA gain enhancement technique in pyramidal horn antenna using a slot type band pass frequency selective surface (FSS) is presented. The horn antenna without FSS has achieved a measured gain of 10.5 dBi at 10 GHz, while the antenna with the single layer slotted FSS yields an enhanced measured gain of 14.2 dBi (an improvement of 3.7 dB or 134%). Conventionally, such a gain enhancement would 5 times increase in its dimensions (flaring). However, the authors achieve the same with only 2 times increase in dimensions. Another interesting value addition of the proposed idea is that an FSS sheet can be added to the existing horn antenna to increase its gain without altering the antenna itself. Such a scheme is highly beneficial in strategic applications. The proposed gain enhanced horn antenna can be recommended to be utilised in several X‐band applications, such as radar systems (weather, surveillance, traffic control and military), satellite communications and point–point microwave links that require high gain and small form factor.

An Angle-Stable Ultra-Wideband Single-Layer Frequency Selective Surface Absorber

An ultra-wideband polarization-insensitive frequency selective surface (FSS) absorber is proposed for S to K-band applications. The absorber comprises two compensation slabs, a lossy FSS layer and a grounded dielectric plate. The FSS unit cell is a combination of a second-order Chinese knot and a cross. To enhance the bandwidth and angular stability of the single-layer FSS absorber, a compensation layer composed of FR4 and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) slabs is incorporated. The proposed FSS absorber demonstrates a remarkable absorption rate of over 90% within the frequency range of 3.1–22.1 GHz, exhibiting a fractional bandwidth of 150.8%. Even when subjected to an oblique incidence of 45°, the absorber maintains an 80% absorption rate in the frequency range of 4.4–19.1 GHz for both TE and TM polarizations. The total thickness of the FSS absorber is 0.0848 λL (the wavelength at the lowest cutoff frequency), and only 1.08 times the Rozanov limit. To validate the design, a prototype of the proposed absorber was fabricated and measured. Good agreements were observed between the simulations and measurements.

Design and Manufacturing of a Hexapattern Frequency Selective Surface Absorber for Aerospace Stealth Application.

Integrated frequency selective surface (IFSS) absorbers with larger bandwidth, effective reflection loss, polarization-insensitive characteristics, angular stability with compact/thin design, and ease of fabrication have captivated significant importance in stealth technology. Herein, we report on an IFSS absorber that has been designed, simulated, and implemented for manufacturing to achieve effective stealth properties. Initially, frequency selective surface (FSS) layers have been designed that comprise a closed centroid honeycomb structure surrounded with four annular hexagonal rings, splitted, alternatively, and enveloped with four L-shaped elements. The simulated pattern has been optimized on glass fabric for reflection loss (RC, dB) at a thickness of ∼0.1 mm by choosing sheet resistance of pattern 110 Ω/□. A FSS layer combined with interlayer lossy dielectric laminates (1.8 mm) and a carbon-fabric-reinforced-plastic ground has been simulated as an IFSS absorber. The performance of RC, in normal and angular configuration (0-60°), under transvers an electric/magnetic mode of polarization, including analysis of the displacement current, volume power loss distribution, and complex admittance has been carried on IFSS. Subsequently, the proposed absorber has been fabricated using customized carbon-based resistive ink imprinted on glass fabric by mask lithography compounded with laminates (a carbon black powder/epoxy composite) and ground. Their manufacturing details, including free space and anechoic chamber RC measurements, have been presented. The simulated and experimental RC performances of the absorber are found to be in good agreement, possessing minimal 10 dB reflection loss (90% absorption) with a sample thickness of 1.9 mm (0.05λL, where λL corresponds to a lower operating frequency), covering 76% fractional bandwidth in X and Ku bands. The proposed design architecture of the IFSS is ideally suitable for aerospace stealth platforms.

High-gain printed monopole antenna with dual-band characteristics using FSS-loading and top-hat structure

In this paper, a printed monopole antenna with high-gain and dual-band characteristics for applications in wireless local area networks and the internet of things sensor networks is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a rectangular patch with multiple matching stubs surrounded to improve the impedance bandwidth of the antenna. The antenna incorporates a cross-plate structure which is seated at the base of the monopole antenna. The cross-plate consist of metallic plates aligned perpendicularly which enhances the radiations from the edges of the planar monopole to maintain uniform omnidirectional radiation patterns within the antenna’s operating band. Furthermore, a layer of frequency selective surface (FSS) unit cells and a top-hat structure is added to the antenna design. The FSS layer consist of three unit cells printed at the back side of the antenna. The top-hat structure is placed on top of the monopole antenna and comprises of three planar metallic structures arranged in a hat-like configuration. The coupling of both the FSS layer and the top-hat structure presents a large aperture to increase the directivity of the monopole antenna. Thus, the proposed antenna structure realizes a high gain without compromising the omnidirectional radiation patterns within the antenna’s operating band. A prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated where good agreement is achieved between the measured and full-wave simulation results. The antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth |S11| < − 10 dB and VSWR ≤ 2 for the L and S band at 1.6–2.1 GHz and 2.4–2.85 GHz, respectively. Furthermore, a radiation efficiency of 94.2% and 89.7% is realized at 1.7 and 2.5 GHz, respectively. The proposed antenna attains a measured average gain of 5.2 dBi and 6.1 dBi at the L and S band, respectively.

Compact conformal tattoo-polymer antenna for on-body wireless power transfer

This paper presents a 35.0 × 35.0 × 2.7 mm3 compact, low-profile, and lightweight wearable antenna for on-body wireless power transfer. The proposed antenna can be easily printed on a piece of flexible tattoo paper and transformed onto a PDMS substrate, making the entire antenna structure conform to the human body for achieving a better user experience. Here, a layer of frequency selective surface (FSS) is inserted in between the antenna and human tissue, which has successfully reduced the loading effects of the tissue, with 13.8 dB improvement on the antenna gain. Also, the operating frequency of the rectenna is not affected much by deformation. To maximize the RF-DC conversion efficiency, a matching loop, a matching stub, and two coupled lines are integrated with the antenna for tuning the rectenna so that a wide bandwidth (~ 24%) can be achieved without the use of any external matching networks. Measurement results show that the proposed rectenna can achieve a maximum conversion efficiency of 59.0% with an input power of 5.75 μW/cm2 and can even exceed 40% for a low input power of 1.0 μW/cm2 with a 20 kΩ resistive load, while many other reported rectennas can only achieve a high PCE at a high power density level, which is not always practical for a wearable antenna.

A Fabry–Perot antenna using a frequency selective surface layer with wideband and Low RCS for Mm-wave applications

In this article, a Fabry-Pérot cavity antenna operating in the K-band is introduced, offering wideband, high gain with low RCS properties. The design consists of a patch antenna serving as a feed antenna and a bianisotropic frequency selective surface (FSS) layer incorporated to create a Fabry–Perot antenna for expanding the bandwidth, intensifying the gain, and minimizing radar cross-section (RCS). The proposed Fabry–Perot antenna is fabricated and measured, showing good agreement between simulated and measured results. The results show an impedance bandwidth of 23.6 % and a 3-dB gain of 14.1% at the center frequency of 28 GHz.

Compact wideband FSS-absorber-based low-RCS reflectarray antenna

This paper presents a method to realize compact broadband low-RCS ReflectArray (RA) antenna based on a Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) absorber and a reflective metasurface. Such an FSS absorber consists of a resistance-loaded lossy layer and an FSS layer, which is utilized to reach an absorption-transmission response. The bottom reflective metasurface works as a phase array, reshaping the quasi-sphere wave from the feeding antenna into the quasi-plane wave. As a demonstration, the low-RCS RA antenna is simulated, fabricated, and measured. The simulated and measured results show that the developed low-RCS RA antenna has an aperture efficiency of 42.7% and a gain of 25.4 dBi in the X band. In the meantime, it simultaneously reaches the 10 dB RCS reduction for the orthogonal polarizations at the S and C bands, corresponding to a fractal bandwidth of 120%. Specifically, the adopted patch-feeding antenna makes the RA antenna more compact than the horn-feed conventional ones. Furthermore, the proposed RA antenna uses a few layers of substrates, making it lower in cost and easier for fabrication. The proposed design may have potential application in integrated stealth communication systems.

An Ultrawideband Frequency Selective Surface Absorber With High Polarization-Independent Angular Stability

An ultrawideband frequency selective surface (FSS) absorber with high angular stability and polarization independency applied in a microwave band is proposed. The absorber is composed of three identical Teflon layers and dual FSS layers with distinct patterns. The miniaturized FSSs with unique patterns demonstrate advantages of facile manipulation of the impedance and multiple resonances in an ultrawide frequency range. The use of identical dielectric substrate greatly reduces the complexity in the absorber design, compared with the conventional way that requires variable dielectric constants for a multilayer structure. Experimental results reveal that more than 90% absorption rate in the frequency range of 2.79–20.62 GHz for normal incidence is achieved. The absorption rate can still retain more than 80% in the range of 4.41–20.93 GHz for both TE and TM polarizations with an incidence of 60°.

Bandwidth and Gain Enhancement of a CPW Antenna Using Frequency Selective Surface for UWB Applications

In this article, a single-layer frequency selective surface (FSS)-loaded compact coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed antenna is proposed for very high-gain and ultra-wideband applications. At the initial stage, a geometrically simple ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna is designed which contains CPW feed lines and a multi-stub-loaded hexagonal patch. The various stubs are inserted to improve the bandwidth of the radiator. The antenna operates at 5-17 GHz and offers 6.5 dBi peak gain. Subsequently, the proposed FSS structure is designed and loaded beneath the proposed UWB antenna to improve bandwidth and enhance gain. The antenna loaded with FSS operates at an ultra-wideband of 3-18 GHz and offers a peak gain of 10.5 dBi. The FSS layer contains 5 × 5 unit cells with a total dimension of 50 mm × 50 mm. The gap between the FSS layer and UWB antenna is 9 mm, which is fixed to obtain maximum gain. The proposed UWB antenna and its results are compared with the fabricated prototype to verify the results. Moreover, the performance parameters such as bandwidth, gain, operational frequency, and the number of FSS layers used in the proposed antenna are compared with existing literature to show the significance of the proposed work. Overall, the proposed antenna is easy to fabricate and has a low profile and simple geometry with a compact size while offering a very wide bandwidth and high gain. Due to all of its performance properties, the proposed antenna system is a strong candidate for upcoming wideband and high-gain applications.

FSS Sandwiched Dual-Frequency Reflectarray for Mobile Communication Applications

Sandwiched frequency selective surface (FSS) is proposed as an additional reflection surface for a dual-frequency reflectarray system. The range of reflection phase for a reflectarray depends on the substrate thickness sensitively. Usually, a tradeoff between the smooth linear level and the wide reflection phase range is needed, especially for a dual-frequency system. By inserting an FSS between the ground plane and the reflecting element layer, a selective plane for the dual-frequency band is provided. For the higher frequency band, the FSS layer is a reflection plane. For the lower frequency band, it is transparent and the reflection plane is changed into the metal ground plane. A dual-band reflectarray with a scattering angle of 30 degrees is simulated and measured to validate this concept.

Novel versatile topologies and design optimization of wide-bandstop frequency selective surfaces for X-band, Ku-band and millimeter-wave applications

Novel designs of frequency selective surface (FSS) are presented for wideband applications in X, Ku and mmWave (millimeter Wave) bands. Two identical metallic layers of FSS are imprinted on both sides of the RO4003 substrate. The geometry parameters are optimized to maximize the bandstop at the specified in-band maximum transmission level of −10 dB; satisfaction of the latter condition is enforced through appropriate formulation and handling of the design constraints. The proposed structure is versatile and can be readily re-designed for various operating bands. For the sake of illustration, two instances of the FSS were developed. Design 1 exhibits broad bandstop of 9.8 GHz at the X- and Ku-bands, whereas the bandstop of Design 2 is 33.5 GHz at the mmWave band. The two FSS unit cell designs share the same base topology, but specific dimensions are adjusted to operate within the lower and the higher bands, respectively. The unit cell is symmetrical, therefore, ensures an excellent resonance stability performance with respect to different polarizations (TE and TM) and incidence angles. For proof of concept only FSS Design 1 is fabricated and measured in an anechoic chamber. The simulated and measured results exhibit good agreement. Extensive benchmarking against state-of-the-art FSS designs from the literature corroborates the advantages of the proposed topology in terms of design novelty, topological versatility, compact size, and wide bandstop response as compared to the previously available designs.

Design of a Hybrid Frequency Selective Rasorber With Wideband Reflection Suppression

A hybrid frequency selective rasorber is presented in this letter based on hybrid lossy layers. The hybrid lossy layers is composed of an absorption-transmission (A-T) layer and a transmission-absorption (T-A) layer, which are responsible for the absorption performance in the low and high frequency respectively. The A-T layer is composed of a lumped-resistors loaded cross-frame structure (CFS), which connects four parallel inductor and capacitor resonators. The T-A layer is constructed by a parallel plate capacitor loaded square loop resonator connecting four lumped-resistor loaded T-shaped metal branches. The frequency selective surface layer is composed of metal square slot. The hybrid frequency selective rasorber provides a transmission window around 10 GHz and two-sided absorption bands in 3.19—9 GHz and 11.85–21.18 GHz, meanwhile the wideband reflection suppression (S <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">11</sub> <−10 dB) is achieved from 3.2 to 21.18 GHz (147%). An assembled prototype is measured to verify the simulated results.

Design and Performance Analysis of Band Pass Filter Using Frequency Selective Surface for 5G Communication

In recent years, frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) have been extensively investigated in terms of their design and practical applications at microwave and optical frequencies. This study proposes a new design of a FSS layer, which is directly placed over the surface of an antenna to enhance its characteristics such as directivity, frequency selectivity, radiation efficiency, and gain. In the proposed design, two different substrates are used to analyze the improved performance of the FSS layer. For this purpose, FR-4 Epoxy and Duroid 5880 are used for cost effectiveness and to achieve the optimized performance of the antenna. The simulated and measured results are in good agreement, indicating the enhanced performance of antenna for WLAN and WiMAX applications. Finally, it is concluded that the proposed FSS layer ensures the best possible results of the filtering response as the first null gives divergence of more than 10 dB with its peak value layer.