Fluidically Scanned Two-Dimensional (2-D) Meta-Fluidic Antenna

This paper presents a fluidically scanned 2-dimensional meta-fluidic antenna. The proposed antenna consists of a source antenna and a bi-layered metasurface which acts as partially reflecting surface (PRS) as a superstrate. The top-layer metasurface composed of a 4 x 4 square-ring element array on the top side of a thin dielectric substrate and 3-D printed fluidic channels inside the dielectric polylactic acid substrate for fluid movement as the bottom layer. It is demonstrated that proposed simple configuration generates a broadside beam that can be pointed to discrete azimuthal directions, whereas continuous elevation scanning of +/- 25 degrees is also attained simultaneously for each azimuthal direction by controlling the programmable water injection inside the channels. Antenna achieved a 10-dB impedance bandwidth of 2.41-2.65 GHz, and a radiation gain of 5.7 dBi demonstrated across the operating bandwidth. To validate the concept, an antenna prototype was fabricated, and far-field measurements were performed. The simulation and measurement results showed good agreement and confirmed the proposed concept.