Reconfigurable Metasurface Architecture for Complete Wavefront Control in mmWave Programmable Wireless Environments

We present a scalable printed-circuit board (PCB) based reconfigurable metasurface (MS) architecture that can be used for complete wavefront manipulation in both polarizations. The operation relies on local control of the complex reflection coefficient in each cell and is enabled by lumped varactor and varistor loading elements assembled on the PCB. We design a unit cell for operation in the mmWave spectrum of 5G communications (28 GHz), evaluate its performance, and map its tunable lumped element configuration to the attained complex reflection coefficient. Finally, we study an MS-enabled programmable wireless environment for indoor communications that can be extended to imaging or holography.