Mutual Coupling in Dynamic Metasurface Antennas: Foe, but also Friend

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Prod'homme, Hugo, del Hougne, Philipp
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Prod'homme, Hugo
del Hougne, Philipp
author_facet Prod'homme, Hugo
del Hougne, Philipp
contents Dynamic metasurface antennas (DMAs), surfaces patterned with reconfigurable metamaterial elements (meta-atoms) that couple waves from waveguides or cavities to free space, are a promising technology to realize 6G wireless base stations and access points with low cost and power consumption. Mutual coupling between the DMA's meta-atoms results in a non-linear dependence of the radiation pattern on the DMA configuration, significantly complicating modeling and optimization. Therefore, mutual coupling has to date been considered a vexing nuance that is frequently neglected in theoretical studies and deliberately mitigated in experimental prototypes. Here, we demonstrate the overlooked property of mutual coupling to boost the control over the DMA's radiation pattern. Based on a physics-compliant DMA model, we demonstrate that the radiation pattern's sensitivity to the DMA configuration significantly depends on the mutual coupling strength. We further evidence how the enhanced sensitivity under strong mutual coupling translates into a higher fidelity in radiation pattern synthesis, benefiting applications ranging from dynamic beamforming to end-to-end optimized sensing and imaging. Our insights suggest that DMA design should be fundamentally rethought to embrace the benefits of mutual coupling. We also discuss ensuing future research directions related to the frugal characterization of DMAs based on compact physics-compliant models.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_01002
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Mutual Coupling in Dynamic Metasurface Antennas: Foe, but also Friend
Prod'homme, Hugo
del Hougne, Philipp
Signal Processing
Information Theory
Applied Physics
Dynamic metasurface antennas (DMAs), surfaces patterned with reconfigurable metamaterial elements (meta-atoms) that couple waves from waveguides or cavities to free space, are a promising technology to realize 6G wireless base stations and access points with low cost and power consumption. Mutual coupling between the DMA's meta-atoms results in a non-linear dependence of the radiation pattern on the DMA configuration, significantly complicating modeling and optimization. Therefore, mutual coupling has to date been considered a vexing nuance that is frequently neglected in theoretical studies and deliberately mitigated in experimental prototypes. Here, we demonstrate the overlooked property of mutual coupling to boost the control over the DMA's radiation pattern. Based on a physics-compliant DMA model, we demonstrate that the radiation pattern's sensitivity to the DMA configuration significantly depends on the mutual coupling strength. We further evidence how the enhanced sensitivity under strong mutual coupling translates into a higher fidelity in radiation pattern synthesis, benefiting applications ranging from dynamic beamforming to end-to-end optimized sensing and imaging. Our insights suggest that DMA design should be fundamentally rethought to embrace the benefits of mutual coupling. We also discuss ensuing future research directions related to the frugal characterization of DMAs based on compact physics-compliant models.
title Mutual Coupling in Dynamic Metasurface Antennas: Foe, but also Friend
topic Signal Processing
Information Theory
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.01002