Tightly Coupled Huygens Element-Based Conformal Transmitarray for E-Band Airborne Communication Systems
Xuan Wang, Pei‐Yuan Qin, Li-Zhao Song, Ronghong Jin, Y. Jay Guo
Abstract
In this article, a wideband conformal transmitarray employing dual-layer tightly coupled Huygens elements is proposed at E-band. The element consists of five pairs of partly overlapped metallic strips with different lengths printed on two sides of a dielectric substrate. It can support tightly coupled Huygens resonances with a high transmission efficiency and a nearly full phase coverage in a wide bandwidth from 71 to 87 GHz. Equivalent circuit models are created to analyze the tightly coupled Huygens element, which has good agreement with that from full-wave simulations. In order to validate the proposed element, a cylindrically conformal transmitarray at 78 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured. Good agreement between the measured and simulated results has been obtained, showing a peak realized gain of 26.6 dBi with an aperture efficiency of 37.2% from measurement. A measured 3 dB gain bandwidth of 20.4% is achieved from 71 to 87 GHz, fully covering the E-band spectrum.