Toward the Realization of an Intelligent Reflecting Surface With Full 360° Phase Variation for Beam Steering Applications at C and X Bands

Abstract

In this paper we have presented a novel Intelligent Reflecting Surface (IRS) for future 6G communications. IRS is suitable for compensating the power loss of wireless communications, such as Satellite based communications, through redirecting the reflected signals. We have analyzed a novel saw-tooth shape unit-cell within C-band and X-band. A full 360° phase variation of an IRS is required in some applications such as beam steering. We have investigated the IRS using three different methods: 1) full wave simulations of the IRS, 2) analysis of the equivalent circuit model (ECM) of the unit-cell, and 3) measurements of the reflection coefficients of ‘shorted’ and ‘open’ unit-cells. Two sets of ‘shorted’ and ‘open’ unit-cells were tested using waveguide based method. Tested results show that the unit-cell can achieve up to 340° phase variation at a particular frequency. It is possible to redirect the reflected signal towards a desired direction through different combination of ‘shorted’ and ‘open’ unit-cells. Phase differences of the tested results at different frequencies (e.g. 8.2-8.4 GHz, 9.1 GHz, and 9.56 GHz) suggest that the designed unit-cells can be utilized in beam redirection purposes. We have presented one such scenario of beam redirection of the IRS at 10 GHz.

Keywords

• Beamforming
• electromagnetic metamaterials
• electromagnetic wave reflection
• metamaterial antennas
• reflectarray antennas
• reflectivity