A 1-Bit Reconfigurable Antenna Array With Radiation and Scattering Modulation

This work proposes an electrically tunable reconfigurable antenna array with wideband radiation and scattering modulation using a simpler structure and an easier control mechanism. A ladder-shaped patch is designed as the radiator. By inserting only one PIN diode in the middle of the patch structure, its operation can be modulated between a patch mode and a slot mode, achieving a wideband reflection phase difference of 180°±37°. A 4 × 4 array is formed using the aforementioned element, which can reconfigure its radiation and scattering modes by controlling the states of the PIN diodes. The measured results show that the proposed array exhibits a 10 dB impedance bandwidth of 20.99% with a peak gain of 14.94 dBi in the radiation mode. In the scattering mode, the phase distributions of the elements are optimized by the group search optimizer algorithm. The radar cross section (RCS) is reduced in the frequency range of 6 GHz to 20 GHz with an average RCS reduction value of 17 dB in the operating band.