1402 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 68, NO.

3, MARCH 2020

Scanning Range Expansion of Planar Phased

Arrays Using Metasurfaces
Yan-He Lv, Xiao Ding , Member, IEEE, Bing-Zhong Wang , Senior Member, IEEE,
and Dimitris E. Anagnostou , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract— We propose a novel method to extend the scan- whereas others use switched beams, mechanical adjust-
ning range of planar phased arrays based on a phase gradi- ments, and/or other reconfigurable methods. In addition, some
ent metasurface. The phase gradient metasurface is developed researchers have replaced the metal ground of the current
by the generalized Snell’s law, which can irregularly tailor
the direction of propagation of the traversing electromagnetic source with the artificial magnetic conductors (AMCs), which
waves. The proposed transmission gradient phase metasurface cause an image source in the same direction to widen the radi-
(TGPMS) uses bidirectional expansion of the scanning range in ation beam and extend the scanning range [10]. Examples that
a phased array application. The TGPMS consists of periodic achieve surface wave and sidelobe-level reduction include
and multilayer subwavelength elements that contribute to a the mutual coupling matching network method [11], tightly
wide range of transmission phase shift and multiple incident
angular stability. The design is verified experimentally with a coupled arrays [12], hybrid high-impedance surfaces [13],
compact microstrip phased array that is integrated with the patch mode theory [14], and others. Other efficient methods
proposed TGPMS. Results demonstrate that the TGPMS extends to improve the scanning performance include sparse phased
the scanning range of the integrated array symmetrically, from arrays [15], the split aperture decoupling technique [16], and
[−36◦ , 38◦ ] to [−56◦ , 60◦ ]. The proposed TGPMS has additional higher-order mode excitation for grating lobe reduction [17].
desirable characteristics, such as high transmission, polarization
insensitivity, tunable transmission phases in a wide range, and In solving the electromagnetic problem of wide-angle scan-
transmission phase stability for waves incident at different angles. ning, the aforementioned methods revolve around boundary
conditions, Eigen analysis, and transmission line theory, which
Index Terms— Phased array, wide-angle scanning, metasur-
face, wavefront phase regulation. restrict design flexibility. Moreover, in many applications,
the antenna platform (and its boundary conditions) and the
I. I NTRODUCTION radiation source (antenna element) are fixed and cannot be
altered. New mechanisms to extend the phased array scanning
E XTENDING the scanning range and maintaining
high-quality wide-angle scanning performance are vital
challenges in the field of phased arrays [1], [2]. Toshev [3] pro-
range are desired. This work proposes an innovative method
that uses the generalized Snell’s law and a transmissive
posed a multipanel concept to use wide-angle scanning. This metasurface.
method, which is similar to the combination of mechanical and As a two-dimensional metamaterial form, metasurfaces
phase scanning, can extend the scanning range at the cost of possess unique electromagnetic properties [18]–[25] as
impedance mismatch and time. Later, phased arrays consisting well as ultrathin structural advantages. Therefore, metasur-
of wide-beam or joint wide-beam elements have been reported faces are widely researched and applied in propagation
to hold the potential to achieve wide-angle scanning [4]–[9]. regulation [26], polarization manipulation [27], dispersion
Typically, joint wide-beam requires the use of reconfigurability operation [28], impedance matching [29], and energy distri-
techniques. bution [30]. Some novel metasurfaces have been designed as
Recently, several novel approaches for wide-angle scanning impedance-matching layers or radomes to improve the perfor-
have been proposed. Some methods improve the radiation mance of phased arrays [31]–[34]. Besides, the phase gradient
source (electric current source, magnetic current source), technique is one of the most commonly utilized techniques
for wave propagation control with metasurfaces [35]–[41].
Manuscript received May 6, 2019; revised December 23, 2019; accepted Especially for transmissive applications, phase gradient meta-
January 3, 2020. Date of publication January 31, 2020; date of cur-
rent version March 3, 2020. This work was supported in part by the surfaces [42]–[48] are designed with antennas to realize beam
National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61731005 and steering.
in part by the EU H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellow- According to the generalized Snell’s law, the discontinuous
ship through ViSionRF under Grant 840854. (Corresponding authors:
Xiao Ding; Dimitris E. Anagnostou.) boundary (such as one generated by a phase gradient meta-
Yan-He Lv, Xiao Ding, and Bing-Zhong Wang are with the Institute of surface) can deflect incident beams to the desired refraction
Applied Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, angle. In this article, a passive transmission gradient phase
Chengdu 610054, China (e-mail: [email protected]).
Dimitris E. Anagnostou is with the Institute of Signals, Sensors and metasurface (TGPMS) has been developed. The metasurface
Systems, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, U.K. (e-mail: regulates and manipulates the radiated field and extends the
[email protected]). scanning angle range of a phased array. However, symmetrical
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. expansion of the scanning range of the phased array requires
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2020.2967276 the phase distribution of both positive and negative (dual)
0018-926X © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
LV et al.: SCANNING RANGE EXPANSION OF PLANAR PHASED ARRAYS USING METASURFACES 1403

Fig. 1. (a) Schematics and equivalent circuit models of the square ring
element. (b) Transmission magnitude with w = 0.2, 0.6, 1.0, 1.4, and 1.8 mm. Fig. 2. (a) Schematics and equivalent circuit models of the circular patch
The bandwidth of all curves with magnitude greater than 0.9 and 0.8 are elements. (b) Transmission magnitude with r = 3.1, 3.5, 3.9, 4.3, and
T1 and T2, respectively. (c) Transmission phase with w = 0.2, 0.6, 1.0, 1.4, 4.7 mm. The bandwidth of all curves with magnitude greater than 0.7 is
and 1.8 mm. The phase variation ranges at 10 and 15 GHz are φ1 and φ2, T3. (c) Transmission phase with r = 3.1, 3.5, 3.9, 4.3, and 4.7 mm. The
respectively. phase variation ranges at 10 and 15 GHz are φ3 and φ4 , respectively.

phase gradients. The proposed TGPMS has high transmission for transmission phase and the magnitude, as shown in
amplitude, a dual-gradient phase distribution, and consists of Figs. 1(b) and (c) and 2(b) and (c). Both elements are placed
multilayer subwavelength elements. The metasurface element in a periodic boundary in x- and y-directions and excited by
has a wide range of transmission phases that cover 360◦. a waveguide port in the z-direction. In Fig. 1(b), square ring
Moreover, the transmissive phase of metasurface elements is elements maintain a high transmittance under the change of
quite stable for waves incident at different angles. the ring widths. Moreover, the operating bandwidth can reach
To demonstrate the performance of this novel method, T1 = 4.88 GHz and T2 = 8.24 GHz with a transmittance of
a prototype of the TGPMS is fabricated and integrated with all curves above 0.8 and 0.9. On the other hand, as shown in
a microstrip phased array operating at 10.3 GHz. The exper- Fig. 1(c), the transmission phase of the square ring elements
imental realization of the proposed method is also performed is stable as the variation ranges are only φ1 = 48.2◦ and
on a TGPMS prototype and a microstrip phased array. The φ2 = 40.4◦ at 10 and 15 GHz, respectively. These two narrow
scanning range is extended symmetrically from [−36◦, 38◦ ] ranges of phase variation make it difficult to establish a
to [−56◦, 60◦ ], which validates that the fabricated TGPMS suitable phase gradient boundary on the TGPMS. According
can effectively improve the scanning range. to the equivalent circuit model in Fig. 1(a), double-layered
metal square ring is inductive in the transmission matrix,
II. D ESIGN AND A NALYSIS OF TGPMS while the coupled thin dielectric layer can be equivalent to
a short transmission line, which is connected in series with
A. Element Design and Simulation √
a characteristic impedance Z a = Z 0 / εr . Here Z 0 is the
To manipulate the phased array radiation by the phase wave impedance in free space. From another point of view,
gradient method, the designed TGPMS requires the elements the width variation of the double-layered square ring changes
with different transmission phases to construct a gradient the equivalent inductance of the inductive network above,
distribution. Besides, the proposed TGPMS should have the which produces a small range of transmissive phase shifts and
ability to maintain high transmittance and high polarization a common wideband of high transmission magnitude.
insensitivity. Hence, we chose two fundamental elements with For elements with circular patches, the ranges of phase
circle patches and square rings, respectively, for estimating variation can reach φ3 = 113.2◦ and φ4 = 324.1◦ at the
the optimal model of the TGPMS element. The structure same frequencies as before, as shown in Fig. 2(b). However,
diagrams and equivalent circuit models of the two fundamental the bandwidth with transmittance higher than 0.7 only reaches
elements are shown in Figs. 1(a) and 2(a), respectively. The T3 = 1.47 GHz when the element has circular patches,
structural symmetry of both types of elements leads to a as shown in Fig. 2(c). It is noted that the equivalent circuit
natural polarization insensitivity. Furthermore, the top and model in Fig. 2(a) indicates the capacitive transmission matrix,
bottom layers of elements have the same metal patterns for which means that the radius variation of a circular patch
enhancing magnetic coupling. manipulates the equivalent capacitance changes between two
By means of CST Microwave Studio, two kinds of open parts in the free space. Therefore, both the sensitive
elements are simulated with varying structural parameters phase shift and a common narrowband with high transmission

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1404 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 68, NO. 3, MARCH 2020

Fig. 4. Transmission phase stability of the TGPMS elements for multiple

incident angles and the influences of multilayer structure on transmittance.
(a) The transmission phase of incident beams at different angles of 0◦ , 10◦ ,
20◦ , 30◦ , and 40◦ for the TGPMS elements with different layers g = 1, 2, 3,
and 4 at 10.3 GHz. (b) The transmission magnitude of the TGPMS elements
with different layers g = 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Fig. 3. (a) Evolution process, structural configuration, and the (b) equivalent as the progressive phase shift changes. Therefore, the proposed
circuit model of the TGPMS element. (c) Simulated transmission magnitude TGPMS element needs to have a stable transmission phase for
and (d) transmission phase of the TGPMS element with r = 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, multiple incident angles. In this article, a method for increasing
4, 4.4, and 4.6 mm. The high transmittance bandwidth of all curves with
magnitude greater than 0.8 is 1.13 GHz. The phase variation ranges are 240.4◦ the number of layers is employed to stabilize the transmission
and 365.1◦ at 9 and 10 GHz, respectively. phase of multiangle incident waves. In Fig. 4(a), we compare
the simulated transmission phase curves of the elements with
layers g = 1, 2, 3, and 4 at incident wave angles 0◦ , 10◦ , 20◦ ,
magnitude are caused by the equivalent capacitance variation 30◦, and 40◦ , respectively (20 cases in total). By comparing
of a capacitive transmission matrix. Based on this analysis, all the curves, the elements with g = 1, 2, 3, and 4 layers have
the element with square rings has a high transmittance, while different transmission phases at multiple incident angles, and
the circular patch elements possess a wide range of transmis- therefore, four separate strip areas are indicated in the chart
sion phases. Hence, the TGPMS element can be evolved by of Fig. 4(a). The width of the four strip areas is proportional
the combination of these two elements, as shown in Fig. 3(a). to the stability of the transmission phase of the TGPMS with
In a two-port transmission line network, the combination of different layers under the incident angle changing from 0◦
two fundamental elements can integrate capacitive and induc- to 40◦ . However, for the TGPMS elements, the increase in
tive equivalent circuit models into one transmission matrix, the number of layers also means increased electromagnetic
as shown in Fig. 3(b). Besides, the geometric parameters losses and decreased transmittance. Fig. 4(b) presents the
of the TGPMS elements are fine-tuned for both wide range transmission magnitude curves of the elements, so that the
of transmission phase and high transmittance over a broad simulation results can indicate the electromagnetic loss and
range of frequencies. The above combined element structure the transmittance with different layers g = 1, 2, 3, and 4. The
is also applied to the metasurface with the phase compensation element with g = 3 has the narrowest strip region [Fig. 4(a)]
principle, which can improve the radiation characteristics of and the highest transmittance [Fig. 4(b)] at 10.3 GHz.
the antenna [36]. Consequently, the optimal TGPMS element is designed
Finally, the proposed element is based on a classic sandwich using g = 3 layers that achieve high transmittance and efficient
structure, where the top and bottom layers are homocen- insensitivity of the transmissive phases to waves of different
tric combinations of square ring and circular patches. The incident angles.
mid-substrate has a dielectric constant εr = 2.6 and a thickness
d = 1.4 mm. The square ring has an outer diameter which is B. Operation Principle Based on the
same as the period p = 10 mm and width w = 0.2 mm. Generalized Snell’s Law
When the radius r of the circular patch is adjusted from In order to extend symmetrically the scanning range of
2 to 4.6 mm, the transmission amplitude and the transmission the phased array, a high transmittance boundary with dis-
phase are simulated, as shown in Fig. 3(c) and (d), respectively. continuous phases of the dual-gradient distribution should be
According to Fig. 3(c) and (d), the elements can acquire trans- designed and set above the radiation aperture, which operates
missive phase ranges of 240.4◦ and 367◦ at the frequencies of in accordance with the generalized Snell’s law [35].
9.3 and 10.3 GHz, respectively, as well as a broad bandwidth To verify the beam deflection performance of the TGPMS,
of 1.13 GHz with the transmittance higher than 0.8, which a transmissive metasurface with a phase gradient distribution
fully satisfies the requirements of the TGPMS for broad phase in the y-direction is simulated using the commercial software
range and high transmittance. CST Microwave Studio. To simulate the beam deflection
As mentioned earlier, another challenge for the TGPMS ele- effect, an MS sequence is surrounded by a periodic bound-
ment is to be stable to the incident angles of waves. The main ary to be equivalent to an infinite phase gradient boundary.
lobe of the phased array is scanned within a symmetrical range Two ports are set in the z-direction for transmitting and

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
LV et al.: SCANNING RANGE EXPANSION OF PLANAR PHASED ARRAYS USING METASURFACES 1405

Fig. 5. Transmission phase of six different elements in a period

of the proposed metasurface, which has circular patches with different
radius. Moreover, the transmission phases of six different elements change
from −60.0◦ to −355.3◦ with approximately 60◦ spacing at 10.3 GHz.

receiving, respectively. A period of the metasurface sequence

consists of six proposed units with different geometric para-
meters, which generate the transmission phase response of
−360◦, −300◦, −240◦, −180◦, −120◦, and −60◦ on Elements
1–6, respectively, as shown in Fig. 5. The above simulation
results can also demonstrate that the structure–parameter vari-
ation of the proposed three-layer combined unit cell realizes
a common band of high transmission amplitude, a wide
range of transmission phase shift, and a periodic sequence
of transmission phases with a step of 60◦. For the expected Fig. 6. (a) Schematic of plane wave incident on the metasurface sequence
objective of this article, this appropriate result can also be at angle θi . The electric field distribution of the proposed metasurface when
it is illuminated by the plane wave of incident angle θi = (b) 0◦ , (c) 20◦ ,
strongly verified by the design method of transmission array and (d) and 30◦ .
cells [49]–[52]. When it comes to the operation principle,
the design method of the TGPMS in this article is different
from that of the transmitarray antenna. For a transmitarray 60◦ and p = 10 mm, respectively. When the beam passes
antenna, the required phase shift for each element depends on through a metasurface with negligible thickness in free space,
the phase delay between the incident wave and the expected there should be n t = n i = 1. Therefore, (2) for θt , which
transmission wave. This design process is similar to achieve represents the refraction angle obtained by the plane wave
the focusing or spherical-plane wave conversion by a transmis- entering the designed MS at an angle θi , can be simplified.
sive metasurface, which is based on the phase compensation When the incident angles are θi = 0◦ , 20◦, and 30◦ , the ideal
principle. However, the required transmission phase of each refraction angles θt _ide are about 29.69◦, 54.83◦, and 84.27◦,
unit cell on the TGPMS in this article is calculated from the respectively.
required phase gradient and the period. This is an effective According to the electric field distribution in Fig. 6, the
means to realize beam deflection based on the generalized observed simulation results of the refraction angles θt_sim are
Snell’s law. In addition, the main differences between our about 30◦, 55◦ , and 86◦ , which are very close to the ideal
design and a transmitarray are also on the unit cell size and results calculated by (2). The above simulations demonstrate
the application of phase gradient to extend the scanning range. that the proposed TGPMS consisting of six-element phase
To verify the above analysis, a 1-D MS sequence of four status can realize precise beam manipulation for plane waves.
periods is simulated for electric field distribution under inci- This provides the technical support for extending the phased
dent plane waves at the angle θi = 0◦ , 20◦ , and 30◦ mentioned array scan range based on the TGPMS.
above. The designed metasurface is illuminated by X-polarized
plane waves with incident angles θt = 0◦ , 20◦, and 30◦ . The
ideal refraction angles θt_ide from the present metasurface can C. Metasurface Design
be calculated by the generalized Snell’s law [34]: To verify the proposed TGPMS, a multilayer phase gra-
λo φ dient MS consisting of the above transmissive elements was
sin(θt )n t − sin(θi )n i = (1) loaded onto a microstrip phased array operating at 10.3 GHz,
2π x  which were processed together for experiments. Considering
π λo 1
θi_ide = arcsin + sin(θi ) . (2) the element characteristics above and the symmetry of the
3 2π p radiation, the proposed TGPMS should be developed with both
Equation (1) is the general expression for generating an three-layer structure and dual gradient phase distribution. This
arbitrary refraction angle by the generalized Snell’s law, where would allow the phased array to symmetrically modulate the
n i and n t are the refractive indices of the incident media and radiation beams and extend its scanning range. The TGPMS
the refractive media, respectively. Moreover, the phase change consists of the elements with different transmission phases,
φ and the periodicity of the proposed elements in Fig. 5 are which are determined by the generalized Snell’s law, and form

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1406 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 68, NO. 3, MARCH 2020

Fig. 7. Schematic layout of the fundamental microstrip antenna element of

the phased array. (a) Top view. (b) Side view.

Fig. 8. Simulation results of the fundamental microstrip antenna element of

the phased array. (a) Reflection coefficient. (b) Radiation pattern.
Fig. 9. (a) Structure diagram with the configuration of the TGPMS integrated
with the phased array antenna (PAA), along with a 3-D magnified schematic.
(b) Patterns of the PAA with element spacing wd = 6 and 14.6 mm (0.5λ)
a phase gradient boundary on the metasurface. Furthermore, when the main lobe direction is 30◦ .
a construction equation of the TGPMS can be obtained from
the generalized Snell’s law:
gradient phase distribution with a 4 × 3 periodic sequence.
α = 2π N(sin θ − sin θi ) (3a) Considering the pattern of the PAA, we require the PAA to
N = (pf )/c (3b) have as few sidelobes as possible when the SLL is as low
as possible to improve the accuracy of the design method.
α = 2π N(sin θ M S − sin θ P A A ) + K (3c)
 Therefore, we choose a narrower element spacing wd = 6 mm
= 0.5 θ P A A ∈ [15◦, 40◦ ] ∪ [−40◦, −15◦ ] to design the PAA which can be calculated by a matrix-
K (3d)
= 0.57 θ P A A ∈ [3◦ , 15◦ ] ∪ [−15◦, −3◦ ] factor equation containing the coupling. In Fig. 9(b), PAAs
with different element spacing wd = 6 and 14.6 mm are
where α is the phase step between elements, p the period simulated when the main lobe direction is 30◦ . Moreover,
of the element, and f the operating frequency. Based on the effect of the tight arrangement of the array elements on
the original and the desired scanning range, the initial value the radiation patterns is discussed again in the subsequent
of the phase gradient required by the TGPMS is calculated experiments. Fig. 9(a) also shows that the proposed phased
by (3a). However, due to the limitations of beamwidth, gain array is fixed at h s = 13.5 mm below the TGPMS and
fluctuations, port coupling, and electromagnetic losses in is held in place by nylon pillars. We have given a detailed
practical application scenarios, the required phase gradient discussion about h s in the supplementary material. A narrow
needs a compensation, as shown in (3c). Among them, K is wd (wd = 6 mm < 0.5λ) demonstrates that the phased
determined through multiple simulation results. array elements are closely arranged to suppress the gain of
Further to the design of the TGPMS, a compact microstrip high-order side lobes, which assists the TGPMS to enhance
phased array with six elements is developed for this experi- the effect of extending the scanning range.
mental demonstration. The main element of the phased array
is a microstrip antenna with a width of a = 2 mm and a length
of b = 8.8 mm, as shown in Fig. 7(a) and (b). By means of III. E XPERIMENTAL R ESULTS
the CST Microwave Studio, the radiation performance of the The prototype of the TGPMS and microstrip phased array
antenna has been analyzed and is shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b). are fabricated and integrated together at a fine-tuned and
The antenna element has efficient radiation at 10.3 GHz, optimized distance, as shown in Fig. 10(a). The TGPMS
as well as an operating band of T−10 dB = 310 MHz [see consists of 3×24 elements, and the aperture of an entire phased
Fig. 8(a)]. Besides, the 3-dB beamwidth of the antenna can array system occupies a size of 270 mm × 60 mm. Fig. 10(b)
reach ±54◦ as seen in the radiation pattern of Fig. 8(b). shows the phased array and the TGPMS during performance
Based on this microstrip element, the phased array prototype characterization measurements in the anechoic chamber. The
is developed and integrated with the TGPMS. In Fig. 9(a), phased array loaded with the TGPMS is connected to a port of
a PAA composed of the above antenna element has been a vector network analyzer (VNA) for excitation and fixed onto
loaded with a TGPMS, which is designed as a bidirectional a rotating platform. The rotating platform has a rotation range

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
LV et al.: SCANNING RANGE EXPANSION OF PLANAR PHASED ARRAYS USING METASURFACES 1407

Fig. 10. (a) Photos of the front view and 3-D view of a prototype of the
TGPMS integrated with the phased array. (b) Photo of the measurement setup
inside the anechoic chamber.

TABLE I
M EASURED R ESULTS OF P HASED A RRAY

Fig. 11. Measured radiation patterns showing the beam scanning of the
phased array with and without the TGPMS, when the progressive phase shift
δ is (a) −5◦ , (b) −20◦ , (c) −45◦ , (d) −80◦ , (e) 5◦ , (f) 20◦ , (g) 45◦ , and
(h) 80◦ , respectively.

from −90◦ to 90◦ . A standard horn (8–15 GHz) is connected

on the other port of the VNA and is placed on a support
platform with the same height as the phased array. The rotating
platform and the support platform are on the same plane. The
phased array without the TGPMS has also been measured for
comparison.
In Fig. 11(a)–(h) and in Table I, both the far-field radiation
patterns of the phased array and of the phased array with
the integrated TGPMS are measured at 10.3 GHz. According
to the results, the original scanning range [−36◦ , 38◦ ] of
the phased array has now been extended to a wide range Fig. 12. The distribution curve of different αe values with the progressive
of [−56◦, 60◦] thanks to the TGPMS. In other words, phase from −80◦ to 80◦ .
the designed TGPMS can bidirectionally move the radiation
beam of the traditional phased array to a wider angular region.
It is noted that the phased array when it is integrated that of the PAA without the TGPMS. This is due to the
with the TGPMS has stable gain with very little fluctuation. electromagnetic loss caused by the three-layer MS.
As mentioned in Section II.C, the spacing between antenna Subsequently, according to the experimental results,
elements of the proposed PAA is narrower than 0.5λ. However, the main lobes of the phased array with and without the
the loading of the TGPMS compresses the radiated energy TGPMS can be corresponded to the θt and θi in (3a), so that
to the desired direction without pattern distortion and gain an equivalent phase step between elements can be calculated
fluctuation. By means of the TGPMS, the radiated energy is from αe by the θt and θi , as shown in Table II. In Fig. 12, the
compressed to the desired direction, so the SLL has been solid lines in red and magenta color illustrate, respectively,
greatly improved. Besides, for patterns at different progress the main lobe direction angle of the phased array with and
phases in Table I, the PAA with the TGPMS radiates narrower without the TGPMS. Moreover, the dashed lines of blue and
main beams than the PAA without the TGPMS. However, green color illustrate, respectively, the sinusoidal value of the
the gain of the PAA with the TGPMS becomes lower than main lobe of the phased array with and without the TGPMS.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1408 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 68, NO. 3, MARCH 2020

TABLE II [2] R. J. Mailloux, Phased Array Antenna Handbook (Antennas and Prop-
S INUSOIDAL VALUE OF THE M AIN L OBE D IRECTION OF P HASED A RRAY agation Library), 2nd ed., Norwood, MA, USA: Artech House, 2008.
[3] A. G. Toshev, “Multipanel concept for wide-angle scanning of phased
array antennas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 56, no. 10,
pp. 3330–3333, Oct. 2008.
[4] E. B. Lima, S. A. Matos, J. R. Costa, C. A. Fernandes, and
N. J. G. Fonseca, “Circular polarization wide-angle beam steering at
Ka-band by in-plane translation of a plate lens antenna,” IEEE Trans.
Antennas Propag., vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 5443–5455, Dec. 2015.
[5] G. Yang, J. Li, D. Wei, and R. Xu, “Study on wide-angle scanning linear
phased array antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 1,
pp. 450–455, Jan. 2018.
[6] H. Zhou et al., “Reconfigurable phased array antenna consisting of high-
gain high-tilt circularly polarized four-arm curl elements for near horizon
scanning satellite applications,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett.,
vol. 17, no. 12, pp. 2324–2328, Dec. 2018.
[7] X. Ding, Y.-F. Cheng, W. Shao, H. Li, B.-Z. Wang, and
D. E. Anagnostou, “A wide-angle scanning planar phased array with
pattern reconfigurable magnetic current element,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propag., vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 1434–1439, Mar. 2017.
[8] N. Haider, A. G. Yarovoy, and A. G. Roederer, “L/S-band frequency
Besides, the solid black line represents αe, which tends to reconfigurable multiscale phased array antenna with wide angle scan-
two symmetrical horizontal lines for positive and negative pro- ning,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 4519–4528,
gressive phase shifts, respectively. Regardless of the positive Sep. 2017.
[9] X. Ding, B.-Z. Wang, and G.-Q. He, “Research on a millimeter-wave
or negative progressive phase shifts, the phased array with phased array with wide-angle scanning performance,” IEEE Trans.
the TGPMS (red solid line) has a wider scanning range. For Antennas Propag., vol. 61, no. 10, pp. 5319–5324, Oct. 2013.
all progressive phase shifts, the blue and green dashed lines [10] R. Wang, B.-Z. Wang, X. Ding, and X.-S. Yang, “Planar phased array
also show the same trend as the red and magenta solid lines, with wide-angle scanning performance based on image theory,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 63, no. 9, pp. 3908–3917, Sep. 2015.
respectively. It is worth noting that the characteristics of each [11] B. Abbasi Arand, A. Bazrkar, and A. Zahedi, “Design of a phased array
curve are consistent with our working principle of (3a): in triangular grid with an efficient matching network and reduced mutual
1) when comparing red and magenta lines, the main lobe coupling for wide-angle scanning,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
vol. 65, no. 6, pp. 2983–2991, Jun. 2017.
expansion (solid magenta) of the TGPMS is not uniform [12] E. Yetisir, N. Ghalichechian, and J. L. Volakis, “Ultrawideband array
for different progressive phase shifts. with 70◦ scanning using FSS superstrate,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
2) When comparing green and blue lines, the spacing Propag., vol. 64, no. 10, pp. 4256–4265, Oct. 2016.
between the green and blue dashed lines tends to be [13] A. Pal, A. Mehta, D. Mirshekar-Syahkal, and H. Nakano, “2×2 phased
array consisting of square loop antennas for high gain wide angle
stable for all progressive phase shifts. scanning with low grating lobes,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
3) All curves in Fig. 12 demonstrate a broadside radiation vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 576–583, Feb. 2017.
when the progressive phase shift is 0. [14] X. Ding, Y.-F. Cheng, W. Shao, and B.-Z. Wang, “A wide-angle scanning
phased array with microstrip patch mode reconfiguration technique,”
The characteristics in (1) and (2) above verify the principle IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 4548–4555, Sep. 2017.
of (3a). Besides, the characteristics in (3) are consistent with [15] F. Foglia Manzillo et al., “A wide-angle scanning switched-beam
the discontinuity of the phase gradient at the center of the antenna system in LTCC technology with high beam crossing levels for
TGPMS. V-band communications,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 67, no. 1,
pp. 541–553, Jan. 2019.
[16] A. Kedar and L. P. Ligthart, “Wide scanning characteristics of sparse
phased array antennas using an analytical expression for directivity,”
IV. C ONCLUSION IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 67, no. 2, pp. 905–914, Feb. 2019.
This work proposed and validated a new method for extend- [17] Z. Iqbal and M. Pour, “Grating lobe reduction in scanning phased array
antennas with large element spacing,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
ing the scanning angle of planar phased arrays through the vol. 66, no. 12, pp. 6965–6974, Dec. 2018.
TGPMS and breaks the bottleneck of their scanning angle [18] G. Moreno et al., “Wideband elliptical metasurface cloaks in printed
limitation. The TGPMS consists of transmissive elements antenna technology,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 7,
pp. 3512–3525, Jul. 2018.
that combine both a high transmission amplitude and a wide
[19] N. M. Estakhri, and A. Alù, “Ultra-thin unidirectional carpet cloak
range of transmission phases. The experimental implementa- and wavefront reconstruction with graded metasurfaces,” IEEE Antennas
tion based on the presented TGPMS and microstrip phased Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 13, pp. 1775–1778, 2014.
arrays have also been performed, which eventually extended [20] G. Eleftheriades, A. Iyer, and P. Kremer, “Planar negative refrac-
tive index media using periodically L-C loaded transmission lines,”
the scanning range from (−36◦, 38◦) to (−56◦ , 60◦ ). Besides, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 50, no. 12, pp. 2702–2712,
the physical principles of the TGPMS were explained and veri- Dec. 2002.
fied by comparing (1) with the experimental radiation patterns. [21] A. K. Iyer and G. V. Eleftheriades, “A multilayer negative-refractive-
index transmission-line (NRI-TL) metamaterial free-space lens at X-
The proposed novel approach enables new applications for band,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 55, no. 10, pp. 2746–2753,
electromagnetic metamaterials, in the fields of seeker phased Oct. 2007.
arrays, smart skins, and radiation shaping. [22] A. Epstein and G. V. Eleftheriades, “Passive lossless huygens metasur-
faces for conversion of arbitrary source field to directive radiation,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 62, no. 11, pp. 5680–5695, Nov. 2014.
R EFERENCES [23] T. Nakamura and T. Fukusako, “Broadband design of circularly polar-
ized microstrip patch antenna using artificial ground structure with
[1] J. D. Kraus and R. J. Marhefka, Antennas For All Applications, 3rd ed., rectangular unit cells,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 59, no. 6,
New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill, 2003. pp. 2103–2110, Jun. 2011.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
LV et al.: SCANNING RANGE EXPANSION OF PLANAR PHASED ARRAYS USING METASURFACES 1409

[24] Y. Shang and Z. Shen, “Polarization-independent backscattering [46] J.-J. Liang, G.-L. Huang, J.-N. Zhao, Z.-J. Gao, and T. Yuan, “Wideband
enhancement of cylinders based on conformal gradient metasurfaces,” phase-gradient metasurface antenna with focused beams,” IEEE Access,
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 5, pp. 2386–2396, May 2017. vol. 7, pp. 20767–20772, 2019.
[25] O. Quevedo-Teruel, M. Ebrahimpouri, and M. Ng Mou Kehn, “Ultraw- [47] K. K. Katare, A. Biswas, and M. J. Akhtar, “Microwave beam steering
ideband metasurface lenses based on off-shifted opposite layers,” IEEE of planar antennas by hybrid phase gradient metasurface structure under
Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 15, pp. 484–487, 2016. spherical wave illumination,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 122, no. 23, Dec. 2017,
[26] O. Manoochehri, A. Darvazehban, M. A. Salari, A. Emadeddin, and Art. no. 234901.
D. Erricolo, “A Parallel Plate Ultrawideband Multibeam Microwave [48] Y. Liu, J. Fu, H. Dong, C. Gong, F. Sun, and S. He, “Extending the
Lens Antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 9, pp. 4878– scanning angle of a phased-array antenna using a thin radome of curved
4883, Sep. 2018. metasurface,” Phys. Status Solidi (RRL), to be published.
[27] X.-X. Liu, Y. Zhao, and A. Alu, “Polarizability tensor retrieval for [49] E. G. Plaza, S. Loredo, G. León, and F. Las-Heras, “Comparison of
subwavelength particles of arbitrary shape,” IEEE Trans. Antennas different structures for transmitarray cells,” Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett.,
Propag., vol. 64, no. 6, pp. 2301–2310, Jun. 2016. vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 1295–1299, Jun. 2013.
[50] E. Plaza, G. Leon, S. Loredo, and F. Las-Heras, “A simple model for
[28] K. Achouri, A. Yahyaoui, S. Gupta, H. Rmili, and C. Caloz, “Dielectric analyzing transmitarray lenses,” IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., vol. 57,
resonator metasurface for dispersion engineering,” IEEE Trans. Antennas no. 2, pp. 131–144, Apr. 2015.
Propag., vol. 65, no. 2, pp. 673–680, Feb. 2017. [51] E. G. Plaza, G. Leon, S. Loredo, and F. Las-Heras, “Dual polarized
[29] A. H. Dorrah, M. Chen, and G. V. Eleftheriades, “Bianisotropic Huy- transmitarray lens,” in Proc. Eur. Conf. Antennas Propag. (EuCAP), The
gens’ metasurface for wideband impedance matching between two Hague, The Netherlands, Apr. 2014, pp. 2305–2308.
dielectric media,” IEEE Transactions Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 9, [52] E. G. Plaza et al., “An ultrathin 2-bit near-field transmitarray lens,” IEEE
pp. 4729–4742, Sep. 2018. Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 16, pp. 1784–1787, 2017.
[30] M. Silveirinha and N. Engheta, “Tunneling of electromagnetic energy
through subwavelength channels and bends using ε-near-zero materials,”
Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 97, no. 1, Oct. 2006, Art. no. 157403.
[31] S. Sajuyigbe, M. Ross, P. Geren, S. A. Cummer, M. H. Tanielian,
and D. R. Smith, “Wide angle impedance matching metamaterials for
waveguide-fed phased-array antennas,” IET Microw., Antennas Propag.,
vol. 4, no. 8, pp. 1063–1072, Aug. 2010. Yan-He Lv received the B.E. degree from the
[32] T. R. Cameron and G. V. Eleftheriades, “Analysis and characterization of Institute of Applied Physics, University of Elec-
a wide-angle impedance matching metasurface for dipole phased arrays,” tronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC),
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 63, no. 9, pp. 3928–3938, Sep. 2015. Chengdu, China, in 2017, where he is currently
[33] A. O. Bah, P.-Y. Qin, R. W. Ziolkowski, Q. Cheng, and Y. J. Guo, pursuing the Ph.D. degree in radio physics.
“Realization of an ultra-thin metasurface to facilitate wide bandwidth, His current research interests include metasurface,
wide angle beam scanning,” Sci. Rep., vol. 8, no. 1, Mar. 2018, reconfigurable elements, manipulation of the wave
Art. no. 4761. propagation, and nonreciprocal device.
[34] A. Benini et al., “Phase-gradient meta-dome for increasing grating-
lobe-free scan range in phased arrays,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
vol. 66, no. 8, pp. 3973–3982, Aug. 2018.
[35] N. Yu et al., “Light propagation with phase discontinuities: General-
ized laws of reflection and refraction,” Science, vol. 334, no. 6054,
pp. 333–337, Oct. 2011.
[36] H. Li, G. Wang, H.-X. Xu, T. Cai, and J. Liang, “X-band phase-
gradient metasurface for high-gain lens antenna application,” IEEE
Xiao Ding (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D.
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 63, no. 11, pp. 5144–5149, Nov. 2015.
degree in radio physics from the University of Elec-
[37] T. Cai et al., “Ultra-thin polarization beam splitter using 2-D trans- tronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC),
missive phase gradient metasurface,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., Chengdu, China, in 2013.
vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 5629–5636, Dec. 2015. In 2013, he joined the Department of Electrical
[38] H. Li, G. Wang, J. Liang, X. Gao, H. Hou, and X. Jia, and Computer Engineering, South Dakota School of
“Single-layer focusing gradient metasurface for ultrathin planar lens Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD, USA, as a
antenna application,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 3, Research Scholar. In 2014, he joined UESTC, where
pp. 1452–1457, Mar. 2017. he is currently an Associate Professor. From 2016 to
[39] X. Wan, L. Zhang, S. L. Jia, J. Y. Yin, and T. J. Cui, “Horn antenna with 2017, he was a Visiting Scholar with the Applied
reconfigurable beam-refraction and polarization based on anisotropic Electromagnetics Laboratory, University of Houston,
huygens metasurface,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 9, Houston, TX, USA. His current research interests include antenna theory and
pp. 4427–4434, Sep. 2017. computational electromagnetics.
[40] E. Erfani, M. Niroo-Jazi, and S. Tatu, “A high-gain broadband gradi-
ent refractive index metasurface lens antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
Propag., vol. 64, no. 5, pp. 1968–1973, May 2016.
[41] A. Dadgarpour, B. Zarghooni, B. S. Virdee, and T. A. Denidni, “Beam-
deflection using gradient refractive-index media for 60-GHz end-fire
antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 63, no. 8, pp. 3768–3774,
Aug. 2015. Bing-Zhong Wang (Senior Member, IEEE) received
[42] H. F. Ma, X. Chen, X. M. Yang, W. X. Jiang, and T. J. Cui, “Design of the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the
multibeam scanning antennas with high gains and low sidelobes using University of Electronic Science and Technology of
gradient-index metamaterials,” J. Appl. Phys., vol. 107, no. 1, Jan. 2010, China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 1988.
Art. no. 014902. In 1984, he joined UESTC, where he is cur-
rently a Professor and the Dean of the Graduate
[43] Y. Liu et al., “Beam steering by using a gradient refractive index
School of University of Electronic Science and
metamaterial planar lens and a gradient phase metasurface planar lens,” Technology of China. In 1990, 1996, 2000, and
Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett., vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 330–337, Feb. 2018.
2006, he was a Visiting Scholar with the University
[44] B. Ratni et al., “Gradient phase partially reflecting surfaces for beam of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA,
steering in microwave antennas,” Opt. Express, vol. 26, no. 6, p. 6724, as a Research Fellow at the City University of
Mar. 2018. Hong Kong, Hong Kong, and a Visiting Professor with Pennsylvania State
[45] W. Li et al., “PIN tuned phased-gradient-metasurface transmittarray for University, State College, PA, USA. He has authored or coauthored over
beam steering application,” in Proc. 11th Intern. Symp. Antennas Propag. 200 technical publications and authored 3 books. His current research interests
EM Theory (ISAPE), pp. 276–278, Guilin, China, 2016. include computational electromagnetics and antenna theory.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1410 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 68, NO. 3, MARCH 2020

Dimitris E. Anagnostou (Senior Member, IEEE) electronics and metasurfaces, direct-write, RF-MEMS, sensors, and applica-
received the B.S.E.E. degree from the Democritus tions of artificial neural networks, and deep learning and machine learning in
University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece, in 2000, electromagnetics and health care.
and the M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees from the Uni- Dr. Anagnostou serves or has served as an Associate Editor for the
versity of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA, IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON A NTENNAS AND P ROPAGATION from 2010 to
in 2002 and 2005, respectively. 2016 and the IET Microwaves, Antennas and Propagation since 2015. He was
From 2005 to 2006, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow a Guest Editor for two IEEE A NTENNAS AND W IRELESS P ROPAGATION
with the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, L ETTERS Special Clusters. He is a member of the IEEE AP-S Educa-
GA, USA. In 2007, he joined as an Assistant Profes- tional Committee, a Judge of the IEEE AP-S Student Design Contest,
sor with the SD School of Mines and Technology, and a member of the Technical Program Committee (TPC) of the IEEE
Rapid City, SD, USA, where he was promoted to AP-S International Symposia. He is a member of HKN Honor Society,
an Associate Professor with tenure. In 2016, he joined the Institute of ASEE, and the Technical Chamber of Greece as a registered Professional
Signals, Sensors and Systems (ISSS), Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, Engineer (PE). He has received the 2010 IEEE John D. Kraus Antenna
U.K., where he is currently an Associate Professor, supported by a Marie Award, the 2011 DARPA Young Faculty Award by the U.S. Department
Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. He has also worked at the Kirtland of Defense, the 2014 Campus Star Award by the American Society for
AFB, Albuquerque, in 2011, as an AFRL Summer Faculty Fellow, and at the Engineering Education (ASEE), the 2017 Young Alumni Award by the
Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece, as an Assistant Professor. University of New Mexico, and four Honored Faculty Awards by SDSMT.
He has authored or coauthored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal and Since 2019, his research has been supported by the European H2020
conference publications, and holds two U.S. patents. His research interests MSCA-IF-RI (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Reintegration Fellow-
include reconfigurable antennas applications for space satellites, defense, ship). His students have also been recognized with IEEE and university
assisted living and consumer electronics, microwave circuits and packaging, awards (Engineering Prize, HWU, Best Ph.D. Thesis Award at SDSMT,
radar, phase-change (functional) materials such as VO2 for reconfigurable and others.

Authorized licensed use limited to: Universite de Rennes 1. Downloaded on June 16,2023 at 09:57:49 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.