Integrated Shared-Aperture Transmitarray Antenna With In-Band and Out-of-Band RCS Reduction

TY - JOUR

T1 - Integrated Shared-Aperture Transmitarray Antenna With In-Band and Out-of-Band RCS Reduction

AU - Wen, Zhenjie

AU - Wu, Yuming

AU - Zhang, Binchao

AU - Hu, Weidong

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 IEEE.

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This paper presents an integrated shared-aperture transmitarray (TA) antenna that achieves a low radar cross section (RCS) at both in-band and out-of-band frequencies, while maintaining wideband beam convergence. The element employs a four-layer metallic structure: Cross-shaped patches and bent metallic strips are integrated on the top layer in a shared-aperture configuration, enabling independent reflection phase control across three distinct frequency bands; the middle two V-slot ground layers enable 1-bit transmission phase modulation via geometric rotation; and the bottom layer employs cross-shaped patches to ensure good radiation. Owing to the integrated design of the top-layer multi-band RCS reduction structures, the TA has a thickness of only 0.28λc (λc denotes the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency). A 16 × 16 prototype is designed, fabricated, and measured. Measurement results demonstrate a peak gain of 20.46 dBi at 13.75 GHz with an aperture efficiency of 20.8% and 1-dB gain bandwidth of 8.96%. Furthermore, the proposed TA antenna achieves a 10 dB monostatic RCS reduction over bandwidths of 23.66% (8.2 to 10.4 GHz) and 12.69% (15.5 to 17.6 GHz), with a maximum in-band (12 to 14 GHz) reduction of 16 dB compared to the reference TA antenna.

AB - This paper presents an integrated shared-aperture transmitarray (TA) antenna that achieves a low radar cross section (RCS) at both in-band and out-of-band frequencies, while maintaining wideband beam convergence. The element employs a four-layer metallic structure: Cross-shaped patches and bent metallic strips are integrated on the top layer in a shared-aperture configuration, enabling independent reflection phase control across three distinct frequency bands; the middle two V-slot ground layers enable 1-bit transmission phase modulation via geometric rotation; and the bottom layer employs cross-shaped patches to ensure good radiation. Owing to the integrated design of the top-layer multi-band RCS reduction structures, the TA has a thickness of only 0.28λc (λc denotes the wavelength corresponding to the center frequency). A 16 × 16 prototype is designed, fabricated, and measured. Measurement results demonstrate a peak gain of 20.46 dBi at 13.75 GHz with an aperture efficiency of 20.8% and 1-dB gain bandwidth of 8.96%. Furthermore, the proposed TA antenna achieves a 10 dB monostatic RCS reduction over bandwidths of 23.66% (8.2 to 10.4 GHz) and 12.69% (15.5 to 17.6 GHz), with a maximum in-band (12 to 14 GHz) reduction of 16 dB compared to the reference TA antenna.

KW - Integrated metasurface

KW - low radar cross section

KW - shared-aperture

KW - transmitarray antenna

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105019607958

U2 - 10.1109/OJAP.2025.3622330

DO - 10.1109/OJAP.2025.3622330

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105019607958

SN - 2637-6431

VL - 6

SP - 2074

EP - 2082

JO - IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation

JF - IEEE Open Journal of Antennas and Propagation

IS - 6

ER -