Dual-Coverage Electromagnetic Skin With Independent Shaped Beams for Sub-THz 6G Communications

Abstract

This paper proposes a dual-coverage Electromagnetic Skin (EM skin) based on a single-layer reflecting panel to provide coverage of blind zones and enhance 6G communications at sub-THz frequencies. The proposed EM skin is able to generate two independent reflected beams in orthogonal linear polarizations, which are pointed in different fixed directions to cover two different regions of users. The unit-cell of the EM skin is based on orthogonal groups of dipole-type elements, which provide independent phasing capability in each linear polarization. A beamforming technique has been applied to broaden the beams in the elevation and azimuth planes with respect to the reference pencil-beam design, so as to cover a wider angular region of $10^{\circ } \times 10^{\circ } $ . A 68 mm $\times 68$ mm EM-skin prototype, comprising $40\times 40$ reflecting cells, has been fabricated and tested, showing good agreement with the simulations at the design frequency of 100 GHz, low cross-polar levels, and stable gain and beamwidth performance in the 95-104 GHz band. The proposed EM skin is a low-cost and energy-efficient solution for improving wireless coverage of blind zones in sub-THz 6G systems, in those scenarios where there is no direct line of sight with the base station or hotspot.

Keywords

• 6G
• coverage
• electromagnetic skin
• millimeter waves
• reflective intelligent surface
• shaped beams