Novel reconfigurable intelligent metasurface antenna based on liquid crystal

Abstract

The invention relates to a novel reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal. The novel reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure sequentially comprises a first dielectric layer, a grounding layer, a liquid crystal layer, a reflection patch structure layer and a second dielectric layer from bottom to top. A multi-resonant structure is arranged on the reflection patch structure layer to increase the phase shift amount of the intelligent metasurface unit structure, and a double-layer annular pipeline is arranged on the liquid crystal layer to adjust the reflection phase of the intelligent metasurface unit structure. The reconfigurable metasurface antenna achieves dynamic phase modulation and has the advantages of being high in regulation and control precision, wide in phase shift range, large in working bandwidth, high in integration degree and the like, and the design scheme and the application mode of the reconfigurable metasurface antenna are further expanded.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of antenna technology, and in particular to an information reconfigurable intelligent super-surface antenna based on liquid crystal. Background Art

[0002] For a long time, the precise control of electromagnetic waves has been the goal of modern antenna development. However, due to the relatively fixed electromagnetic parameters of materials, the control of electromagnetic waves is still limited to the transmitter and receiver. In recent years, the intelligent metasurface (RIS) has attracted widespread attention in the industry because of its flexible control of electromagnetic characteristics in the channel environment. RIS is composed of a large number of specially designed electromagnetic units. By applying control signals to the adjustable elements on the electromagnetic units, the electromagnetic properties of the units are dynamically controlled to complete the active intelligent control of electromagnetic waves in space, and the dynamic control of phase, amplitude, polarization and frequency is achieved. The introduction of RIS has changed wireless propagation from passive adaptation to active control, which has brought great convenience to the artificial control of electromagnetic waves. However, traditional metasurfaces face a key problem. After processing, their electromagnetic characteristics and electromagnetic functions are severely limited, and they can only achieve fixed control functions for electromagnetic waves. Taking the reflective metasurface as an example, the beam pointing is fixed when it is manufactured, and it is impossible to achieve electronically controlled scanning such as phased array antennas.

[0003] Traditional metasurface research focuses on passive design. Once fabricated, its function is fixed and it can only achieve fixed control functions for electromagnetic waves. For example, after the processing of traditional reflective metasurfaces, the beam pointing is fixed and the flexible electronic control scanning of phased array antennas cannot be achieved. At the same time, current reconfigurable metasurface antennas still have problems such as high sidelobe level, low phase control accuracy, and poor beamforming capability, which makes it difficult to meet the needs of modern intelligent metasurface antennas for precise control of electromagnetic waves. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the present invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art and provide a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface antenna based on liquid crystal to solve the deficiencies of the prior art.

[0005] The object of the present invention is achieved by the following technical solutions: a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal, which comprises, from bottom to top, a first dielectric layer, a ground layer, a liquid crystal layer, a reflective patch structure layer and a second dielectric layer; A multi-resonance structure is arranged on the reflective patch structure layer to increase the phase shift of the smart metasurface unit structure, and a double-layer annular pipe is arranged on the liquid crystal layer to adjust the reflection phase of the smart metasurface unit structure.

[0006] The reflective patch structure layer includes an upper patch and a multi-resonance structure arranged on the upper surface to meet the multi-bit phase quantization requirements and achieve a sufficient phase shift amount.

[0007] The upper patch includes a lantern-shaped opening patch, and the multi-resonance structure is arranged in the middle position of the lantern-shaped opening patch.

[0008] The inner annular pipe and the outer annular pipe are filled with liquid crystal, and the reflection phase of the smart metasurface unit structure is increased by adjusting the distance between the inner annular pipe and the outer annular pipe.

[0009] An opening is respectively provided on both sides of the outer annular pipe, and connection between two adjacent intelligent super-surface unit structures is achieved through the opening.

[0010] A new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface antenna based on liquid crystal comprises a plurality of intelligent metasurface unit structures, and the plurality of intelligent metasurface unit structures are arranged in an array.

[0011] The present invention has the following advantages: a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface antenna based on liquid crystal, which realizes dynamic phase adjustment and has the advantages of high control accuracy, wide phase shift range, large working bandwidth, high integration, etc., further expanding the design scheme and application mode of the reconfigurable metasurface antenna. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the intelligent metasurface unit structure of the present invention; Figure 2 It is a top view schematic diagram of the reflective patch structure layer; Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the liquid crystal layer; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the structure of the present invention In the figure: 1-first dielectric layer, 2-ground layer, 3-liquid crystal layer, 4-reflective patch structure layer, 5-second dielectric layer, 6-liquid crystal, 7-inner annular pipe, 8-outer annular pipe, 9-upper patch, 10-multi-resonance structure, 11-opening. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical scheme in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. The components of the embodiments of the present application described and shown in the drawings here can be arranged and designed in various different configurations. Therefore, the detailed description of the embodiments of the present application provided below in conjunction with the drawings is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the application claimed for protection, but merely represents the selected embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without making creative work belong to the scope of protection of the present application. The present invention is further described below in conjunction with the drawings.

[0014] One embodiment of the present invention relates to a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal, which is used in the Ka band. When designing the metasurface unit, the unit size is required to be as small as possible, and the unit size is generally required to be less than half the wavelength of the operating frequency. Secondly, in order to meet the needs of multi-bit phase quantization, reduce side lobes, and improve gain and beamforming effects, it is necessary to achieve sufficient phase shift in the unit design. Therefore, the present invention designs a multi-resonance structure 10 to increase the phase shift of the metasurface unit structure without expanding the size of the unit structure. Because the unit structure will have a larger phase shift at the resonance point, superimposing two adjacent resonance point structures will also cause their phase shifts to be superimposed, thereby increasing the phase shift range.

[0015] like Figure 1 As shown, the intelligent metasurface unit structure includes, from bottom to top, a first dielectric layer 1, a ground layer 2, a liquid crystal layer 3, a reflective patch structure layer 4 and a second dielectric layer 5; wherein the first dielectric layer 1 and the second dielectric layer 5 are both made of glass.

[0016] A multi-resonance structure 10 is provided on the reflective patch structure layer 4 to increase the phase shift of the smart metasurface unit structure, and a double-layer annular pipe is provided on the liquid crystal layer 3 to adjust the reflection phase of the smart metasurface unit structure.

[0017] Furthermore, if Figure 2 As shown, the reflective patch structure layer 4 includes an upper patch 9 and a multi-resonance structure 10 arranged on the upper surface to meet the multi-bit phase quantization requirements and achieve sufficient phase shift.

[0018] Among them, the upper patch 9 includes a lantern-shaped opening patch, and the multi-resonance structure 10 is arranged in the middle position of the lantern-shaped opening patch; the multi-resonance structure 10 is formed by superimposing two adjacent resonant structures, one of which is a square structure and the other is a circular structure. The two resonant structures are superimposed to increase the phase shift amount.

[0019] Furthermore, if Figure 3 As shown, the inner annular pipe 7 and the outer annular pipe 8 are filled with liquid crystal 6. By adjusting the distance between the inner annular pipe 7 and the outer annular pipe 8 d To increase the reflection phase of the smart metasurface unit structure. The electrically tunable characteristics of liquid crystal 6 are reflected in the fact that when it is used as a dielectric substrate for microwave devices, the resonant frequency will change with the change of the dielectric constant, which is the basis for liquid crystal 6 to be an electrically tunable material.

[0020] Therein, an opening 11 is respectively provided on both sides of the outer annular pipe 8 , and connection between two adjacent intelligent metasurface unit structures is achieved through the opening 11 .

[0021] When designing a reconfigurable reflective metasurface, an electrically controlled switch device is generally used to achieve the change of the phase of the reflective unit. n electrically controlled switches are n-bit encoding. At this time, a unit has 2n states, and the phase difference between two adjacent states is 360° / 2n. For example, a 2-bit unit uses four digital coding states "00", "01", "10", and "11" to represent the four phase response states of 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. When all metasurface units are represented by digital codes, their electromagnetic response patterns can be converted into digital coding sequences. Combined with field programmable modules such as FPGA, the electromagnetic functions of the metasurface can be switched to realize reflected wave beamforming. Based on the above principles, the number of coding states n and the phase shift φ of adjacent units must satisfy , 3-bit phase quantization can be used to combine antenna performance and quantity requirements to form an array.

[0022] Therefore, if Figure 4 As shown, another embodiment of the present invention relates to a new type of reconfigurable smart metasurface antenna based on liquid crystal, characterized in that it includes multiple smart metasurface unit structures involved in the first embodiment, and the multiple smart metasurface unit structures are arranged in a 4×4 array.

[0023] The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the form disclosed herein, and should not be regarded as excluding other embodiments, but can be used for various other combinations, modifications and improvements, and can be modified within the scope of the concept described herein through the above teachings or the technology or knowledge of the relevant field. The changes and modifications made by those skilled in the art do not deviate from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and should be within the scope of protection of the claims attached to the present invention.

Claims

1. A new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal, characterized by: It comprises, from bottom to top, a first dielectric layer (1), a ground layer (2), a liquid crystal layer (3), a reflective patch structure layer (4) and a second dielectric layer (5); A multi-resonance structure (10) is provided on the reflective patch structure layer (4) to increase the phase shift of the smart metasurface unit structure, and a double-layer annular pipe is provided on the liquid crystal layer (3) to adjust the reflection phase of the smart metasurface unit structure.

2. According to claim 1, a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal is characterized in that: The reflective patch structure layer (4) comprises an upper patch (9) and a multi-resonance structure (10) arranged on an upper surface, so as to meet the requirements of multi-bit phase quantization and achieve a sufficient phase shift amount.

3. According to claim 1, a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal is characterized in that: The upper patch (9) comprises a lantern-shaped opening patch, and the multi-resonance structure (10) is arranged at a middle position of the lantern-shaped opening patch.

4. According to claim 1, a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal is characterized in that: The inner annular pipe (7) and the outer annular pipe (8) are filled with liquid crystal (6), and the reflection phase of the smart metasurface unit structure is increased by adjusting the distance between the inner annular pipe (7) and the outer annular pipe (8).

5. According to claim 4, a new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface unit structure based on liquid crystal is characterized in that: An opening (11) is provided on each side of the outer annular pipe (8), and connection between two adjacent intelligent super-surface unit structures is achieved through the opening (11).

6. A new type of reconfigurable intelligent metasurface antenna based on liquid crystal, characterized by: It comprises a plurality of intelligent super surface unit structures as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, and the plurality of intelligent super surface unit structures are arranged in an array.

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