Active, frequency-selective meta-surfaces for reduced antenna footprint and jamming mitigation

ABSTRACT: Significant cost reductions and system improvements would ensue if multiple transmit and receive antennas could share one RF aperture without performance degradation due to self-interference phenomenon. Effects of radar jamming signals would be also be reduced through the use of a properly designed reflector capable of only reflecting the RF radiation of interest. To enable such improvements, a narrow band meta-surface, capable of dynamically switching between two reflective states was designed. This present effort intent is to fabricate this design both as a single element and as an array and to characterize the subsequent surface for tunability and to characterize the meta-surface properties. Fabrication, manufacturing and effects of space environments on this reflecting surface will also be investigated. BENEFIT: An active frequency selective surface will allow multiple transmit and receive antennas to share a common aperture, dramatically reducing system footprint and mitigating effects of jamming signals. Such a surface will find use in space-based platforms where communication and sensor payload size, weight and component count are of extreme importance. Potential products to be developed from this technology include a reflector/antenna that will enable the use of a common radio frequency aperture for transmit/receive applications in a space environment. The reflector will be electronically tunable to operate at applicable frequencies. Such a product would be a low-cost alternative to current space-based antenna payloads. In addition, negative effects from unwanted signals found in space communication systems would be mitigated with the current SSSC design.