Electrically tunable surface impedance structure with suppressed backward wave

• US 8,436,785 B1
• Filed: 11/03/2010
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HRL Laboratories LLC (The Boeing Co.)
• Original Assignee: HRL Laboratories LLC (The Boeing Co.)
• Inventors: Lai, Anthony, Colburn, Joseph S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hoang V
• Application Number:
  US12/939,040
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• Field of Search: 343/909, 343/913, 343/754, 343/745, 343/700.MS
• US Class Current: 343/909
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/002 said selective devices being reconfigurable or tunable, e.g. using switches or diodes
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 15/0026 said selective devices having a stacked geometry or having multiple layers

Abstract

A method of delaying the onset of a backward wave mode in a frequency selective surface having a two dimensional array of conductive patches or elements and an RF ground plane, the two dimensional array of patches or elements being interconnected by variable capacitors, the method comprising separating grounds associated with the variable capacitors from the RF ground plane and providing a separate conductive mesh structure or arrangement as a bias voltage ground for the variable capacitors. A tunable impedance surface comprises a RF ground plane; a plurality of patches or elements disposed in an array a distance from the ground plane; a capacitor arrangement for controllably varying capacitance between at least selected ones of adjacent patches or elements in the array; and a grounding mesh associated with the capacitor arrangement for providing a control voltage ground to capacitors in the capacitor arrangement, the grounding mesh being spaced from the RF ground plane by dielectric material.

Claims

1. A method of delaying the onset of a backward wave mode in a frequency selective surface having a two dimensional array of conductive patches and an RF ground plane, the two dimensional array of patches being interconnected by variable capacitors, the method comprising separating grounds associated with the variable capacitors from the RF ground plane and providing a separate conductive mesh structure as a ground for said variable capacitors.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the separate conductive mesh structure is spaced from one side of said RF ground plane and wherein the two dimensional array of conductive patches is spaced from another side of said RF ground plane.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the patches each have a control line which is either coupled to said separate conductive mesh structure or which is connected to a biasing network supplying biasing voltages V₁, V₂, . . . V_n to an associated control line.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the variable capacitors are varactors.

5. A tunable impedance surface comprising:

(a) a RF ground plane;

(b) a plurality of elements disposed in an array a distance from the ground plane;

(c) a capacitor arrangement for controllably varying capacitance between at least selected ones of the elements in said array; and

(d) a grounding mesh associated with said capacitor arrangement for providing a bias voltage ground to capacitors in said capacitor arrangement, the grounding mesh being spaced from the RF ground plane by dielectric material.

6. The tunable impedance surface of claim 5 further including a substrate having at least first and second layers, said first layer being a first dielectric layer facing said ground plane on a first major surface thereof and facing said plurality of elements on a second major surface thereof and said second layer being a second dielectric layer and providing said dielectric material.

7. The tunable impedance surface of claim 6 wherein said capacitor arrangement is adjustable to tune the impedance of said surface spatially.

8. The tunable impedance surface of claim 5 wherein the RF ground plane has an array of openings formed herein for passing a connection from each of the plurality of elements to a selected one of either the grounding mesh or to a selected bias voltage.

9. A method of tuning a high impedance surface for reflecting a radio frequency signal comprising:

arranging a plurality of generally spaced-apart conductive surfaces in an array disposed essentially parallel to and spaced from a conductive RF ground plane, and

varying the capacitance between at least selected ones of adjacent conductive surfaces in to thereby tune the impedance of said high impedance surface using bias voltages, the bias voltages being referenced to a bias voltage ground supplied via a grounding mesh which is isolated from said RF ground plane by a layer of dielectric material.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said plurality of generally spaced-apart conductive surfaces are arranged on a multi-layered printed circuit board, said layer of dielectric forming at least one layer of said multi-layered printed circuit board.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the step varying the capacitance between adjacent conductive surfaces in said array includes connecting variable capacitors between said at least selected ones of adjacent conductive surfaces.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the capacitance is varied between all adjacent elements.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of varying the capacitance between at least selected ones of adjacent conductive surfaces includes applying said bias voltages to selected ones of said conductive surfaces and applying said bias voltage ground to other ones of said conductive surfaces.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein spacing of each conductive surface from the RF ground plane is less than a wavelength of a radio frequency signal impinging said surface, and preferably less than one tenth of a wavelength of a radio frequency signal impinging said surface.

15. A tunable impedance surface for reflecting a radio frequency beam, the tunable surface comprising:

(a) a ground plane;

(b) a plurality of elements disposed in an array a distance from the ground plane, the distance being less than a wavelength of the radio frequency beam;

(c) a capacitor arrangement for controllably varying the impedance along said array; and

(d) means for suppressing a formation of a backward wave by said tunable impedance surface.

16. A tunable impedance surface comprising:

(a) a ground plane;

(b) a plurality of discreet elements disposed in a two-dimensional array a distance from the ground plane; and

(c) a plurality of capacitors coupling neighboring ones of said elements in said two dimensional array for controllably varying capacitive coupling between said neighboring ones of said elements in said two-dimensional array while at the same time suppressing a formation of a backward wave by said tunable impedance surface.

17. The reflecting surface of claim 16, wherein the plurality of capacitors is provided by a plurality of variable capacitors coupled to said neighboring ones of said elements in said two-dimensional array.