Enhancement of aperture antenna systems using meta-radome devices

The natural frequency response of meta-atoms can be exploited to create dispersively engineered multifunctional devices, which can significantly enhance performance in radome-encapsulated antenna systems. By utilizing the transmission phase response of meta-atoms and operating in frequency bands in between their natural resonances, it is possible to create a meta-radome that collimates incoming radiation at one frequency band while appearing transparent in another. Meta-radomes provide a compelling alternative to traditional dielectric lenses, with drastically reduced size and weight. Optimization of such devices is challenging because of their complex geometry and electrically large structure. This issue can be mitigated by using various shortcut methods, which improve simulation time with minimal sacrifice to accuracy. In addition, the meta-radome design is flexible in that altering parameters such as the number of layers, layer spacing, and meta-atom geometry allows for further performance tuning. This work presents a general design of a meta-radome with emphasis on how to efficiently optimize its geometry. Comparisons to conventional dielectric lenses are made to demonstrate the viability of the proposed design technique.