Independent Scattering and Radiation Beam Steering for Low-Scattering Phased Arrays

This paper presents a novel approach for independently controlling in-band radiation and scattering patterns in phased arrays. An equivalent circuit model is developed to illustrate the underlying operating principle. Based on this principle, radiation beams can be steered through appropriate excitation phase distribution without affecting the scattering patterns, while scattering beams are controlled by designing antenna elements with tunable surface reflection coefficients but identical radiation pattern. To validate this approach, a reconfigurable antenna array incorporating PIN diodes is designed, operating over the 2.6–3.4 GHz frequency range with a ±45° scanning angular range. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed array can dynamically reconfigure its scattering beams, directing them to arbitrary angles within ±45°, while maintaining good radiation performance.