Cross-Dipole Bandpass Frequency Selective Surface for Energy-Saving Glass Used in Buildings

Energy-saving glass is becoming very popular in building design due to their effective shielding of building interior against heat entering the building with infrared (IR) waves. This is obtained by depositing a thin layer of metallic-oxide on the glass surface using special sputtering processes. This layer attenuates IR waves and hence keeps buildings cooler in summer and warmer in winter. However, this resistive coating also attenuates useful microwave/RF signals required for mobile phone, GPS and personal communication systems etc. by as much as 30 dB. To overcome this drawback, a bandpass aperture type cross-dipole frequency selective surface (FSS) is designed and etched in the coatings of energy-saving glass to improve the transmission of useful signals while preserving IR attenuation as much as possible. With this FSS, 15-18 dB peak transmission improvement can be achieved, for waves incident with +/- 45 degrees from normal for both TE and TM polarizations. Theoretical and measured results are presented.