A Ready-to-Use Beam Steering Application Using a 3D-Printed System Integrated with a Dielectric Lens and Ultra-Wideband Antenna

The study introduces a 3D-printed lens assembly that has been rotated and equipped with an ultrawideband (UWB) antenna, designed specifically for beam-steering applications. The primary objective is to achieve beam steering by integrating the rotating 3D-printed lens assembly with a hemispherical lens and UWB antenna. The UWB antenna is constructed on an FR-4 substrate, while the hemispherical lens and the rotating 3D-printed lens assembly are composed of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). To allow the hemispherical lens to rotate to a certain angle, a collection of 3D-printed lenses that can be rotated was created. These lenses were marked with five predetermined angles: 300 degrees, 330 degrees, 0 degrees, 30 degrees, and 60 degrees. Both the modeling and experimental findings demonstrate that the UWB antenna with the 3D-printed rotatable hemispherical lens assembly is unable to guide the beam at a low frequency of 3.1 GHz. Nevertheless, at frequencies of 7.0 GHz and 10.6 GHz for intermediate and high frequencies, respectively, the beam can be directed based on the rotation of the hemispherical lens.