IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, VOL. 20, NO.

2, FEBRUARY 2010 79

Miniaturized FSS and Patch Antenna Array Coupling

for Angle-Independent, High-Order Spatial Filtering
Farhad Bayatpur, Student Member, IEEE, and Kamal Sarabandi, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—A new filter-antenna array design is presented in this

article. This design approach can be employed to simplify the
vertical integration of array beamformers. Basically, by placing
a high-order filter, whose response is not sensitive to angle of
arrival, in front of the array elements, the need for integrating
bulky RF filters behind each element is eliminated. A new method
for design of such phased-arrays is provided here in which the
bandpass filters are removed, and instead, a metamaterial-based
frequency-selective surface is placed directly over the antenna to
perform the necessary filtering. The small spacing between the
frequency-selective surface and the antenna, which is as low as
10, results in creation of a compact filter-antenna deign. The Fig. 1. Filter in the receive path of each element of the beamforming array is
close proximity of the surface and the antenna is utilized to achieve replaced with the FSS above the patch antenna. As a result, one FSS, instead of
a proper coupling between the selective surface and the array for one filter per element, performs the filtering for the whole array elements.
high-order filtering without adversely affecting the gain or scan
characteristics of the array. To test the performance of this ap-
proach, a 9 9-element patch-array is fabricated and measured at The purpose of this research, from a practical perspective, is
X-band. The array is then loaded with a 0.003 -thick, single-pole to study the possibility of reducing the complexity associated
frequency-selective layer at a close distance on top. The measured with the vertical integration of beamforming arrays by elimi-
received power as a function of frequency exhibits an improved
nating the RF filters in the receive chain. In digital beamforming,
frequency selectivity (better than the frequency-selective surface
or the array alone). An improvement of about 50% reduction in the received signal from each array element is processed indi-
the bandwidth and significantly higher frequency roll-off rate is vidually. Signals can simultaneously be processed to generate
observed once the array is covered with the metamaterial surface. a multitude of beams and obtain much more functionality. The
Index Terms—Beamforming, metamaterial frequency-selective drawback of this approach, however, is the cost of vertical in-
surface, phased-array, superstrate. tegration, i.e. each element requires its own transceiver chain
consisting of the amplifier and filters. The size of bulky band-
pass filters in the chain is a major limiting factor given that the
I. INTRODUCTION array elements should be closely spaced to keep the level of the
sidelobe low.
ESERACH on multi-layer dielectric superstrates in the A coupled FSS and antenna array using the concept of the
R past primarily concerns the antenna gain or bandwidth
enhancement [1]–[3]. Application of periodic structures, as su-
miniaturized-element FSS, which was introduced in [8] and fur-
ther developed in [9], is presented here. This concept can be uti-
perstrates, in conjunction with planar antennas has been also lized in fabrication of lower cost beamforming arrays in which
considered previously. This includes studies on electromagnetic the bulky bandpass filters in the receive chain of each antenna el-
bandgap (EBG) structures [4]–[6] and frequency-selective sur- ement are eliminated. The necessary filtering is then performed
face (FSS) structures [7]. There are, however, practical issues by the miniaturized FSS placed over the array, as shown in
related to the use of such structures; the major problem is the Fig. 1.
adverse effects of the superstrate on the scan performance of The localized frequency selectivity of the miniaturized FSS
the antenna, an undesirable feature that cannot be tolerated in structures, [9], enables the creation of very thin spatial filters
phased-array design. Another issue is that conventional methods with high scanning capabilities. In addition, these surfaces can
require a separation distance of between the antenna and the perform properly even in close proximity to an antenna.
FSS. Also, the thickness of the traditional FSS itself is another
II. DESIGN AND FABRICATION
limiting issue [7].
A. Miniaturized-Element Frequency-Selective Surface
The miniaturized surface used for filtering is an X-band, 6 in
Manuscript received July 24, 2009; revised October 27, 2009. First published
January 19, 2010; current version published February 10, 2010. This work was
6 in, thin FSS based on the structure presented previously in
supported in part by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. [9]. The surface, shown in Fig. 2, consists of a loop-array and
The authors are with the Radiation Laboratory, Department of Electrical En- a wire-grid, with a periodicity of 3.39 mm, on opposite sides of
gineering and Computer Science, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, a -thick substrate with a dielectric constant of 2.94. For
48109-2122 USA (e-mail: farhadbp@eecs.umich.edu; saraband@eecs.umich.
edu). the loop layer, the width of the traces is 0.11 mm, and the gap
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LMWC.2009.2038517 between the loops is also 0.11 mm. The wire-grid is made up of
1531-1309/$26.00 © 2009 IEEE

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80 IEEE MICROWAVE AND WIRELESS COMPONENTS LETTERS, VOL. 20, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2010

Fig. 2. Loop-wire FSS geometry consisting of a wire-gird and a loop-array.

2
Fig. 4. Fabricated FSS-patch-array, a 9 9-element, probe-fed patch-array is
used here whose elements, except for the center element, are matched to 50

surface-mount resistors.

Coupling two resonators, one can achieve a maximally flat or

dual-band response. In this design, the FSS is placed at the dis-
tance of to the patch-array to establish a proper coupling
between the patch and the loops/wires of the FSS. As will be
shown below, because of the coupling, the selectivity of the
FSS-antenna becomes better than the array or the FSS alone.
The FSS is designed such that its center frequency (10.7 GHz)
is slightly different from the resonance frequency of the patch
Fig. 3. Loop-wire FSS frequency response is plotted for different angles of (10.4 GHz). The coupling in addition to the frequency offset of
incidence () of 0 , 10 , and 25 for the TE polarization. By scanning, the
insertion loss increases from 1.2 dB to 1.7 dB. the resonators enable a flat pass band region (maximally flat) in
the frequency response of the FSS-antenna array.
Finally, to assemble the FSS-antenna, the FSS is overlaid on
traces which are 0.95 mm wide. The measured transmissivity of top of the patch-array, as shown in Fig. 4. The FSS and the
the surface is provided in Fig. 3. antenna are separated by a -thick PF-2 foam
by Cumming Microwave, Avon, MA.
B. Patch-Array
The fabricated array is a 9 9-element array of probe III. MEASUREMENT
(pin)-fed, rectangular patch antennas built on a 0.5-mm-thick The setup for measuring the receiving characteristics of the
RO4003C substrate. As discussed in Section I, each element array includes a transmitter (horn antenna) placed at one end of
of a beamforming array has a separate feed network. As a an anechoic chamber and the array itself located at the opposite
result, the filtering effects of the FSS should be observed at side of the chamber. The center patch of the array is the receiver
the terminal of the individual element. To emulate a similar and is connected to a spectrum analyzer for power reading. The
condition in the measurement, the patch-array is fabricated with received power at multiple frequency points covering the band
independently-fed elements, i.e. no corporate feed network is 7–15 GHz is manually collected for two cases: 1) patch-array
used. Each patch can be fed by a pin connected to the patch at alone and 2) patch-array covered with the FSS.
a point where the input impedance is 50 at 10.4 GHz, the The measured, received powers by the center patch as a func-
frequency of operation of the antenna. Here, only the received tion of frequency for the two cases mentioned above at normal
power as a function of frequency by the patch located at the incidence are shown in Fig. 5. The received power by the FSS-
center of the array is presented. To do this, the center patch is antenna, compared with the antenna alone, exhibits the filtering
connected to an SMA connector for power reading, and the sur- effect of the FSS; in the power response (Fig. 5), the bandwidth
rounding patches are matched to 50 through surface-mount becomes half and the frequency roll-off rate increases by almost
resistors, each of which connects the pin of an off-center patch a factor of two around the center frequency (10.6 GHz). More-
to the ground-plane. This way, the array is built to work in the over, the received power shows a maximally flat characteristic
receive mode. Given the receive mode measurement results, around the center frequency, a dual-pole behavior due to the cou-
the transmission characteristics of the array are also known pling of the FSS elements with the patches [11]. Resulting from
according to reciprocity theorem [10]. the close proximity of the FSS and the patches , this
As mentioned earlier, the miniaturized surfaces can perform coupling improves the frequency selectivity of the FSS-array.
properly in a close proximity of radiating elements. This allows As shown in Fig. 5, the 3 dB bandwidth of the combined FSS-an-
the placement of the FSS near the antenna array, thus enabling tenna is about 350 MHz which is significantly lower than those
mutual coupling between the antenna and the FSS resonators. of the array ( 700 MHz) and the FSS ( 1 GHz) individually.

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BAYATPUR AND SARABANDI: MINIATURIZED FSS AND PATCH ANTENNA ARRAY COUPLING 81

It should be emphasized, however, that the FSS used in this

experiment is a single-pole surface, and therefore, has a lim-
ited selectivity. The example presented here, however, is just a
proof of concept. Apparently, multipole miniaturized surfaces,
[12], can be employed to construct FSS-antenna structures with
higher-order filtering characteristics.
IV. CONCLUSION
The loop-wire miniaturized-element FSS structure is utilized
in construction of an FSS-antenna array with an extremely low
thickness of and reasonably large scanning capabilities.
In this process, the miniaturized surface is overlaid on top of a
patch-array antenna though a foam spacer to tailor the electro-
magnetic radiation of the antenna in frequency. The high per-
formance of this approach is verified through experiment. This
Fig. 5. Measured received power by the patch element at the center of the array method can enable the fabrication of beamforming arrays com-
for the case of patch-array alone compared with case of the patch-array covered prising many closely spaced antenna elements with lower cost.
with the metamaterial FSS (see Fig. 3). In this measurement, the transmitter and In this approach, the bandpass filters that are usually required in
the receiver were facing one another (normal incidence).
the receive chain of the individual elements of the beamforming
system are eliminated and replaced with a thin miniaturized-el-
ement FSS structure.
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