A Millimeter-Wave Reconfigurable Intelligent Metasurface Design for Vehicular Networks Applications

A reconfigurable metasurface unit-cell is investigated in order to obtain a 0°/180° phase shift of the incident millimeter electromagnetic wave and its reflection for automotive applications. The meta-atom is realized starting from a ground and a dielectric layer, over which a metallic pattern is deposited. A diode is added to the pattern in order to make the structure reconfigurable in terms of phase. By tuning the substrate parameters (dielectric thickness h and dielectric constant ε
_r
) and with the shape and dimensions of the pattern on the top of it, the unit-cell that satisfies the requirements is found. The S
₁₁
of the structure is shown both in modulus and phase and compared for the two configurations of the diode. Moreover, a vehicular scenario where a whole reconfigurable intelligent metastructure based on this unit cell is described. The ideal instantaneous rate is also derived.