Mechanically Reconfigurable Dielectric Transmitarray for Dual-Beam Communications

A mechanically reconfigurable transmitarray (TA) to support point-to-multipoint (PtM) communications via simultaneous dual-beam radiation is presented. The architecture employs two independently rotating flat dielectric TAs whose transmitting element permittivity values are rigorously synthesized to transform the feeder spherical wavefront into concurrent multiple beams, thereby enabling simultaneous dual-beam scanning in both elevation and azimuth. The numerical analysis and full-wave simulations demonstrate that the proposed design strategy can achieve a maximum dual-beam elevation scan of 55° with a 3 dB dual-beam gain bandwidth larger than 18%. A prototype comprising two flat dielectric TAs operating at 35 GHz and producing a mechanically scanned dual-beam has been manufactured using an additive manufacturing process. The measurements are in good agreement with the expected outcomes and confirm the effectiveness of the proposed synthesis strategy.