IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO.

1, JANUARY 2023 581

Reconfigurable Bidirectional Beam-Steering

Aperture With Transmitarray, Reflectarray, and
Transmit-Reflect-Array Modes Switching
Hang Yu , Student Member, IEEE, Pan Li, Student Member, IEEE, Jianxun Su , Member, IEEE,
Zengrui Li , Member, IEEE, Shenheng Xu , Member, IEEE, and Fan Yang , Fellow, IEEE

Abstract— The design and experiment of an electronically I. I NTRODUCTION

reconfigurable bidirectional spatially-fed array are presented,
which combines the functionalities of reconfigurable transmitar-
ray (TA), reflectarray (RA), and transmit-reflect array (TRA).
First, we demonstrate a novel bidirectional unit cell composed of
T HE demand for a low-cost, high-gain antenna with elec-
tronic beam scanning capability is widespread in modern
wireless communication systems. These antennas are used in
a tunable resonant layer between a pair of orthogonally oriented a wide range of applications, including satellite communica-
metal gratings. Two positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diodes are tions, point-to-point terrestrial links, deep-space communica-
integrated into the tunable resonant layer to achieve the 1-bit tion links, and radars [1], [2], [3]. The most traditional manner
phase resolution in either transmission or reflection mode. Based
on the proposed unit cell, a 16 × 16-element array arranged of implementing electronic beam steering is by using a phased
in a square grid, which can be controlled independently by array; however, their disadvantage is that each element needs
a field programmable gate array (FPGA)-based digital control to be connected to transmit/receive (T/R) module, which leads
circuit, is excited by a linearly-polarized horn to show the beam to very high implementation costs [4], [5].
steering ability of reconfigurable TA and RA. To realize TRA Spatially fed array antennas [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12],
function integration with the bidirectional beam independent
steering simultaneously, the method based on superposition of [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23],
the aperture fields (SAF) on the aperture is used. In SAF [24], [25] have attracted much attention in recent years, which
design, the entire aperture is divided into transmission and remove the layout of complex feed networks and mitigate
reflection modes co-existing, and the arrangement and phase much of the loss associated with transmission line feeds, due
distribution are optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO) to their attractive qualities, namely their low cost, ease of
algorithm to achieve minimum sidelobe levels (SLLs) and peak
gain of bidirectional beam. The measured results of the prototype manufacturing, low weight. These kinds of novel antennas are
demonstrate that the antenna can steer bidirectional beam both promised as low-cost, high-gain, and beam-scanning antenna
in simultaneous and time division operating modes, which is not alternatives. There are mainly three kinds of space-fed array
reported to the best of the authors’ knowledge. Our proposed antennas, namely reflectarray (RA) [6], [7], [8], [9], [10],
method opens a new avenue for the design of high-performance [11], [12], [13], [14], transmitarray (TA) [15], [16], [17], [18],
multifunctional reconfigurable antenna systems.
[19], [20], and transmit-reflect array (TRA) [21], [22], [23],
Index Terms— Beam scanning, bidirectional, positive-intrinsic- [24], [25], which usually include a feed antenna and a phase-
negative (PIN) diodes, reconfigurable, reflect-transmit array. modulated aperture. By making the aperture electronically
Manuscript received 12 March 2022; revised 4 October 2022; accepted reconfigurable through integrating tunable devices, such as
5 October 2022. Date of publication 18 November 2022; date of current liquid crystal [10], microelectromechanical system (MEMS)
version 19 January 2023. This work was supported in part by the National switches [12], varactor diodes [6], [7], [15], [16], [24], and
Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant U2141233, Grant 62171416,
and Grant 62071436; and in part by the Fundamental Research Funds for the positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) diodes [8], [9], [13], [14],
Central Universities under Grant CUC220A001, Grant CUC210A001, and [17], [18], [19], within the aperture element, the surface with
Grant CUC220D013. (Corresponding author: Jianxun Su.) a reconfigurable phase-modulated function can be synthesized
Hang Yu is with the Information Materials and Intelligent Sensing Lab-
oratory of Anhui Province, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China, and to realize beamforming. A reconfigurable RA aperture can
also with the State Key Laboratory of Media Convergence and Communi- reflect electromagnetic (EM) waves from the feed antenna and
cation, Communication University of China, Beijing 100024, China (e-mail: produce a reconfigurable backward pencil beam over the lower
[email protected]).
Pan Li, Jianxun Su, and Zengrui Li are with the State Key Lab- hemisphere, as shown in Fig. 1(a). For the reconfigurable TA,
oratory of Media Convergence and Communication, Communication its aperture can transmit the EM energy to the other side
University of China, Beijing 100024, China (e-mail: [email protected]; and generate a reconfigurable forward beam over the upper
[email protected]; [email protected]).
Shenheng Xu and Fan Yang are with the Department of Elec- hemisphere, as shown in Fig. 1(b). A lot of works [6], [7],
tronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China (e-mail: [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19],
[email protected]; [email protected]). [20] has been proposed to extend their functionalities, such
Color versions of one or more figures in this article are available at
https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.2022.3222337. as wideband or multiband operation, high aperture efficiency,
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2022.3222337 wide-angle beam scanning, and multipolarization; however,
0018-926X © 2022 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.

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582 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY 2023

bidirectional independent beam steering simultaneously, the

superposition of the aperture fields (SAF) and the particle
swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm are used to obtain unit
cell mode arrangement and phase distribution, then realize
beam direction, low sidelobe levels (SLLs), and peak gain
for each bidirectional beam. In contrast to the work in [23],
the transmitted and reflected beams can be controlled inde-
pendently, which greatly expands its application scenario.
A shared aperture with an electronically reconfigurable design,
which is based on an FPGA-based digital control circuit,
enables switching in RA, TA, and TRA modes. The proposed
method can manipulate the directions of the single beam and
Fig. 1. Spatially fed array architectures. (a) RA. (b) TA. (c) TRA. the bidirectional beams, opening a new avenue for the design
of high-performance multifunctional reconfigurable antenna
these antennas can only achieve beamforming and beam systems and providing a promising candidate in the next-
scanning in one hemisphere, either in TA or RA functions, generation wireless communication applications.
while the other hemisphere is not used. Multiple antennas This work is organized as follows. Section II describes the
are needed to combine to realize beamforming, such as the operating principle and structure of the proposed unit cell.
Russian radar, 64N6E Big Bird [26], which has a double-sided Section III presents the implementation and measurements of
antenna aperture and two feed horn antennas to realize 3-D the reconfigurable bidirectional spatially fed array working
electronically beam scanning performance, which increases the on simultaneous and time-division operating modes. Finally,
space of the device and the fabrication cost. Section IV concludes this work.
The concept of the TRA [23], [24], [25], which includes
a feed antenna and a phase-modulated aperture with the II. U NIT C ELL D ESIGN
transmitted and reflected beams, was introduced to realize
low-cost full-space EM control, as shown in Fig. 1(c). Bidi- A. Operating Principle
rectional coverage can be divided into simultaneous and time- To realize the proposed multifunctional shared aperture
division operating modes. The main difference between the shown in Fig. 1, the key step is to create a novel unit cell
two operating modes is that, in simultaneous operating mode, with the capacity of the backward reflection and forward
the transmitted and reflected beams can be generated at the transmission mode switching and at least a 1-bit tunable phase
same time and achieve independent beam scanning. While shift. The traditional reconfigurable RA unit cell [6], [7], [8],
in time-division mode, the transmitted or reflected beam is [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14] usually consists of one layer
switched within a field programmable gate array (FPGA) of a metal ground plane, which can ensure the incident EM
response time. In [23], a 1-bit reconfigurable TRA with wave is totally reflected, and at least one layer of phase shift
beam-reconfigurable capability was achieved for simultaneous layer. For the reconfigurable TA with 1-bit phase resolution,
bidirectional coverage. The transmitted and reflected beams the current works are usually based on the receive-and-radiate
are, however, always symmetrical with respect to the radiation method, which introduces receiving and radiating layers that
aperture, which limits its applications. Since the transmitted are connected through metallization via holes or coupling slots
and reflected beams are generated at the same time, a 3 dB [20]. If the TA structure is not well matched to the free space,
gain loss is invited. A multilayer receive-transmit type element, the incident EM wave will be reflected, resulting in a high
which can electronically switch between the transmitted and insertion loss. Therefore, the transmission mode is desirable
reflected modes, was proposed in [24]. The main shortcoming to be the most “transparent” as possible, introducing very low
of this design is the high loss in the varactor diodes, and it loss so the EM field of the propagating wave is not severely
cannot provide bidirectional coverages simultaneously. attenuated, whereas the reflection mode is desirable to be a
Because of the aforementioned limitations of previous perfect reflecting surface so the incident wave can be entirely
works, the value and the novelty of this work is proposing a reflected.
reconfigurable multifunctional TRA, as the name implies, is a To simultaneously control the reflected and transmitted
multifunction integration containing RA, TA, and TRA func- wavefronts, parallel narrow metal strips with uniform spacing
tion for simultaneous and time-division bidirectional beam- are employed to replace the ground plane [27], [28], which
steering, which is not reported to the best of the authors’ can deflect incident waves with the polarization parallel to the
knowledge. The proposed reconfigurable unit cell can achieve strips into a designed direction and transmit the orthogonal
the 1-bit phase resolution both in transmission mode and polarization component. In our previous work [19], a low-loss
reflection mode by controlling the four states of two PIN reconfigurable TA unit cell consisting of a tunable polarization
diodes. Then, a 16 × 16-element multifunctional aperture converter between a pair of orthogonally oriented subwave-
with 512 PIN diodes fed by a pyramidal horn antenna length metal gratings was presented to realize beam steering.
is fabricated. The measured results show that the aperture By switching the states of the two mirror arranged diodes
can realize pencil-beam scanning of transmitted or reflected (ON / OFF or OFF / ON), due to the interference between the
beams demonstrating its 3-D beam steering ability. To realize multiple polarization couplings in the Fabry-Pérot-like cavity,

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YU et al.: RECONFIGURABLE BIDIRECTIONAL BEAM-STEERING APERTURE WITH TA, RA, AND TRA MODES SWITCHING 583

Fig. 3. Simulated performance of unit cell under normal incidence.

(a) Magnitude and (b) phase for states “10” and “01.” (c) Magnitude and
(d) phase for states “11” and “00”.

Fig. 2. Configuration of the proposed unit cell structure. (a) Schematic. to the PIN diodes on the metallic layers, meandering lines are
(b) Center patch layer. (c) Stack up. (d) Bottom grating layer. designed as blocking components to isolate radio frequency
(RF) and dc signals and placed at the weakest points of the
the incident EM wave is efficiently transformed to its cross-
electric field. The dc via hole is used to connect the metallic
polarized wave with 1-bit phase resolution. Now, if we let
resonator layer and bias line layer. The direction of the bias
the tunable metallic resonator works at a copolarized response
line is parallel to the x-direction grating to reduce the effects
state, namely that this resonator is without polarization con-
on its transmission properties. The key parameters are in mm
version function in this situation, the upper grating and the
as follows: h 1 = 1.8, h 2 = 1.8, h 3 = 0.5, P = 15, t = 0.5, g
bottom grating can be considered as a “transparent” plane and
= 2.3, w = 7.1, wk = 0.4, wg = 1, ws1 = 2.6, r2 = 1, and
a ground plane, respectively. This structural framework can
ws2 = 2.3.
be regarded as the traditional RA design framework. Manip-
Since two PIN diodes are integrated into the unit cell, the
ulating the phase of the copolarized reflected field can be
proposed unit cell should have four states: “00” ( OFF/ OFF),
realized by turning copolarized response characteristics. In this
“01” (OFF / ON), “10” (ON / OFF), and “11” (ON / ON). The EM
category, tunable metallic resonator should have copolarized
performance of the unit cell for four states is simulated by the
and cross-polarized tunable capability to realize transmission
full-wave simulation software CST Microware Studio® with
mode and reflection mode switching.
periodic boundary conditions in the x and y directions and
open (add space) boundary in the −z and +z directions.
B. Unit Cell Structure and Simulation An x-polarized incident EM wave with −z direction propaga-
Following this idea, the proposed metasurface-based unit tion is imping on the unit cell. The reflection and transmission
cell configuration is shown in Fig. 2. It consists of a recon- coefficients of four states under normal incidents are shown
figurable metallic resonator between a pair of orthogonally in Fig. 3. Here, R and T are used to evaluate reflection and
oriented subwavelength metal gratings and a direct current transmission coefficients, respectively. Fig. 3(a) illustrates that
(dc) bias line layer. The dielectric layers of substrates use the unit cell converts an x-polarized incident wave into a
the commonly utilized F4B substrate [29] with a relative y-polarized transmitted wave with an insertion loss of less
permittivity of 2.65 and a loss tangent of 0.001. Substrate 2 and than −0.8 dB within 8.5–10.3 GHz for both state “10” and
substrate 3 are bonded together by a 0.1 mm Rogers RO4450F state “01.” The copolarization and cross-polarization reflection
bonding film with a relative permittivity of 3.52. The metallic coefficients in the operating frequency band are <−10 and
resonator consists of a rectangular patch and outer ring, where −40 dB, respectively. The copolarization transmission coeffi-
two PIN diodes are integrated. Two cut slots and a vertical cients are <−30 dB, which reveals a high cross-polarization
line are added to achieve independent control of two diodes. purity of the transmitted wave. Since the two states of “10” and
The vertical line is connected to the dc ground. Substrate “01” can be equivalent to mirror unit cells, an inherent phase
1 is drilled to reserve space for the placement of diodes. The difference of 180◦ between the two states over the operating
MACOM MADP-000907-14020 PIN diodes are selected for band is generated [19], which can be observed in Fig. 3(b).
this work, which is modeled as a series of lumped resistor, The slight fluctuation is due to the asymmetry of the bias line.
inductor, and capacitor (RLC) elements [19]: R = 7.8  and Fig. 3(c) and (d) illustrate the simulated reflection and
L = 30 pH for the ON state and C = 25 fF and L = 30 pH for transmission coefficients for states “11” and state “00,” where
the OFF state. To control the dc bias voltages separately applied the metallic resonator works at copolarized response states

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584 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY 2023

Fig. 4. Conceptual illustration of EM wave propagation when the x-polarized

incident wave illuminates the proposed reconfigurable unit cell at four states:
(a) “10,” (b) “01,” (c) “00,” and (d) “11”. Fig. 5. Simulated transmission and reflection performance with different
equivalent capacitance C of the PIN diode. (a) Magnitude and (b) phase
without polarization conversion function. From Fig. 3(c), it can difference of T yx for states “10” and “01.” (c) Magnitude and (d) phase
be observed that the copolarization reflection coefficient loss difference of Rx x for states “00” and “11”.
is <0.4 dB regardless of state “11” and state “00,” the
cross-polarization reflection coefficients are <−50 dB, and
the transmission coefficients are <−20 dB in the band of
8.8–10.3 GHz, indicating that x-polarized incident wave is
totally nearly reflected without polarization conversion for
both states. Besides, as shown in Fig. 3(d), the x-polarized
reflection phase difference between states “00” and states “11”
is 180◦ ± 20◦ at 8.9–10.3 GHz. The conceptual illustration
of EM wave propagation when the x-polarized incident wave
illuminates the proposed reconfigurable unit cell at four states
is shown in Fig. 4, which indicates that this novel unit cell is
capable of the backward reflection and forward transmission
mode switching and 1-bit tunable phase shift.
Since the equivalent parameters of the PIN diode are
related to the operating frequency and assembly accuracy
[18], the difference in the equivalent parameters (especially
the equivalent capacitance C) dramatically influences the
frequency response. Simulated transmission and reflection
with different equivalent capacitance C of the PIN diode Fig. 6. Surface current distributions of reconfigurable metallic patch layer
are shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 5(a) and (b) give the magnitude when the x-polarized incident wave illuminates the proposed unit cell at four
and phase difference of T yx for states “10” and “01.” It is states: (a) “10,” (b) “01,” (c) “00,” and (d) “11”.

observed that the operating frequency slightly shifts to high

frequency when the capacitance increases, while the phase
currents at 9.5 GHz on the reconfigurable metallic resonator at
difference is almost unchanged due to the mirror structure
four states, as shown in Fig. 6. When the unit cell is working
property. Fig. 5(c) and (d) give the magnitude and phase
at states “10” and “01,” as shown in Fig. 6(a) and (b), strong
difference of Rxx for states “00” and “11.” The reflection
surface currents (black arrows) are mainly located on one side
magnitudes are almost unchanged, while the phase differences
of the OFF state and flow to or away from the edge of the center
have a large variation range. It can be concluded that the
patch. Two black arrows are combined into a blue synthetic
reflection performance is more sensitive than the transmission
arrow, which can be considered as an electric dipole resonance
performance. This phenomenon can cause the measured
generated by a metal cut-wire structure [30]. because of
results of the reflected beam to deviate from the simulation
the existence of two orthogonally oriented metal gratings,
ones, especially the SLLs.
which allow the newly generated y-polarized component to
pass through while blocking the x-polarized component for
C. Surface Current Analysis forward scattering, the overall result is that the x-polarized
To understand the physical mechanism of the proposed unit incident waves are converted to their orthogonal polarization
cell at four states in further detail, we investigated the surface in transmission mode. Since the surface current distributions

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YU et al.: RECONFIGURABLE BIDIRECTIONAL BEAM-STEERING APERTURE WITH TA, RA, AND TRA MODES SWITCHING 585

Fig. 7. Details of bias line arrangement at the array level. (a) Overall
schematic (grating layers are hidden). (b) Zoom view in the center (grating
layers are hidden). (c) Zoom view on the edge.

in the two cases in the y-direction show opposite directions, Fig. 8. Fabricated antenna. (a) System assembly. (b) PIN layer. (c) dc bias
indicating a 180◦ phase difference in two newly generated line layer. (d) Measurement of the transmitted beam in the near-field system.
transmission waves. When the unit cell is working at state
“00” [see Fig. 6(c)], two blue synthetic arrows are included, In the manufacturing process, substrate 2 and substrate 3
which can be combined into an x-direction arrow, indicating were processed first and bonded together by a 0.1 mm Rogers
that no polarization conversion is generated. Since x-direction RO4450F bonding film. Then, the two-layer board is drilled,
grating can be considered as a ground plane, the x-polarized including metalized vias (for the dc bias layer) and air vias
incident EM wave is totally reflected after a phase modulation. (for connecting the dc bias line and fixing substrate 1). The
While for the state “11” [see Fig. 6(d)], four purple arrows in next step is the PIN diode soldering process using surface
the y-direction are induced in the out ring, no effective current mount technology (SMT), which is a method that attaches
is generated due to the direction being opposite to each other. electronic components to the surface of the PCB. The SMT
The remaining currents represented by black arrows can be manufacturing process is broadly grouped into three stages,
synthesized into an x-direction current. Similar to state “00,” namely: solder paste printing, components placement, and
the x-polarized incident EM wave is reflected after another reflow soldering. After this, substrate 1 is processed and
phase modulation. Additionally, because the resonant modes drilled, including air vias for the reserved space for the PIN
of the states “11” and “00” are different, this ultimately causes diodes and the holes for the fixing structure. Finally, 3-mm-
the x-polarized reflected wave to have a 180◦ phase difference. diameter plastic screws were used to align and further hold
together the different layers. A feed horn antenna with a
pattern power factor of q f = 3.5 at 9.5 GHz is placed on the
III. I MPLEMENTATION AND M EASUREMENTS z-axis at the point of z = −140 mm, which is optimized by
A. Antenna System Configuration balancing the spillover efficiency and illumination efficiency
[31], to produce an x-polarized incident spherical wave. And
To experimentally validate the performance of the proposed 3-D printing technology was used to print the mechanical
reconfigurable strategy, a 16 × 16-unit-cell shared array aper- support bracket for realizing the assembly of the horn antenna
ture with dimensions of D along the x- and y-axes is adopted. and the reconfigurable aperture. The fabricated antenna is
The proposed array has an effective size of 240 × 240 mm, depicted in Fig. 8.
and 512 PIN diodes are used to control the individual element The measurement was carried out using the antenna
by bias line and FPGA. The bias line arrangement at the array near-field testing system in an anechoic chamber. As shown
level of the proposed 16 × 16-unit-cell shared array aperture in Fig. 8(d), the electric field is measured using a standard
is shown in Fig. 7. The antenna prototype was fabricated using X-band near-field waveguide probe, which is in front of the
a printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication technique with a aperture. It is worth noting that when testing reflected beams,
minimum feature size of approximately 0.1 mm. Therefore, the the entire antenna should be rotated 180◦ compared to testing
minimum width of the dc bias line and clearance is 0.1 mm. transmitted beams. The scanning step is 13.6 mm (λ/2 at the
The period of the bottom grating layers is 3 mm, the metallic highest test frequency), and the near E-field value at each
strip width is 2.3 mm, and the gap width is 0.7 mm. In order pixel can be obtained by scanning the probe along the x- and
to reduce the influence of the bias line on the transmission y-axis. The far-field radiation pattern can be readily obtained
performance, the direction of the bias line is parallel to the from the measured near-field data using the fast-Fourier
grating, and the total bias linewidth should be smaller than transformation (FFT).
the metallic strip width. Thus, the number of bias lines over
a metallic strip is limited to 12. When the size of the array
and the number of bias lines increase, the designer needs to B. Coding Arrangements of TA and RA Modes
increase the width of the metallic strip or use a multilayer For a space-fed planar array antenna, to generate a pencil-
PCB for the bias line network instead. shaped beam in the desired direction û 0 (θ0 , ϕ0 ), the phase of

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586 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY 2023

Fig. 9. Simulated and measured broadside far-field radiation patterns in xoz-, yoz-, and D-plane. (a)–(c) Are the patterns at 9.0 GHz. (d)–(f) Are the patterns
at 9.5 GHz. (g)–(i) Are the patterns at 10 GHz.

each unit cell (m, n) should be set as C. TA Mode Operation

   To verify the capability of the TA function for producing
ϕm,n = k rm,n − r f  − rm,n · û 0 + ϕ0 (1) forward beams. In this case, the unit cell only works as
transmission mode with two codes of “01” and “10.” First,
where r f and rm,n are the position vector of feed antenna we investigate the broadside radiation performance with (θT0 ,
and the (m, n)-th unit cell, respectively. k is the free space ϕT0 ) = (0◦ , 0◦ ) at transmission mode. According to the quan-
wavenumber, and ϕ0 is a constant phase, which is the opti- tized phase distribution calculated using (1)–(3), the coding
mized value for a 1-bit space-fed planar array [19]. ϕm,n is distribution over the aperture plane is determined.
converted into a value between −180◦ and 180◦ . In this design, The full-wave simulation of the overall antenna model is
a 1-bit unit cell is adopted as the element, and the quantization performed in CST Microwave Studio using the transient solver.
q
phase (ϕm,n ) is defined as The simulated and measured radiation patterns in xoz-, yoz-,
and diagonal (D)-plane at 9.0, 9.5, and 10 GHz are plotted in

0◦ , if −90o ≤ ϕm,n ≤ 90o Fig. 9. Since the reconfigurable aperture generates polarization
ϕm,n
q
= ◦ (2) conversion in transmission mode, the y-polarization compo-
180 , other cases.
nents are dominant in the upper hemisphere. Measured Half-
power beamwidths (HPBWs) of y-polarization components at
The codes for a pencil-shaped beam in the upper hemisphere 9.5 GHz in xoz- and yoz-planes are 8.5◦ and 8.8◦ , respec-
(TA function) should be set as tively. Measured SLLs at xoz- and yoz-planes are −15.5 and
 −15.0 dB, and x-polarization levels are below −26 dB.
“10”, if ϕm,n
q
= 0◦ Fig. 10 presents the simulated and the measured radiation
m,n =
CodeTA (3)
“01”, if ϕm,n
q
= 180◦ . gains within the frequency band of 8.5–10.5 GHz. The mea-
sured gain at 9.5 GHz is 21.4 dBi for the transmitted beam,
And the codes for a pencil-shaped beam in the lower hemi- corresponding to an aperture efficiency of 19.2%, and the
sphere (RA function) can be written as 3 dB gain bandwidth is 19.5% (8.8–10.7 GHz). To show the
transmission beam scanning ability, the measured y-polarized

“00”, if ϕm,n
q
= 0o radiation patterns within ±60◦ scan range in xoz-plane and
CodeRA
m,n = (4) ±45◦ scan range in yoz (D)-planes are plotted in Fig. 11,
“11”, if ϕm,n = 180o .
q
where they are normalized to the gain of the transmitted

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YU et al.: RECONFIGURABLE BIDIRECTIONAL BEAM-STEERING APERTURE WITH TA, RA, AND TRA MODES SWITCHING 587

TABLE I
G AIN L OSS A NALYSIS FOR B ROADSIDE B EAMS AT 9.5 GHz

Fig. 10. Gain and aperture efficiency of broadside beam of TA modes.

broadside beam. The different scanning angle ranges are due to

the different element radiation patterns caused by the structural
asymmetry.
In the TA case, the measured main beam directions coincide of the reflected broadside beam to show the reflection beam
well with the target angles. When the beam scanning angle scanning ability. It is worth noting that the SLLs decrease as
is increasing, the main lobe beamwidth is wider, the SLLs the main beam angles deviate from the feed direction in the
increase slightly, and the gain decreases. Fig. 12 gives the yoz-plane scanning. In the RA case, the measured main beam
measured reflection coefficient of the focal source in TA directions coincide well with the target angles. Fig. 16 gives
modes. It can be seen that the different beams have a small the measured reflection coefficient of the focal source in RA
effect on the reflection coefficient at the input of the horn modes. The experimental results have demonstrated its 2-D
antenna. The experimental results have demonstrated its 2-D beam steering capability over the lower hemisphere.
beam steering capability over the upper hemisphere. The above results prove the 3-D beam steering ability of
the proposed aperture that can realize time-division beam
scanning of transmitted and reflected beams. The gain loss
D. RA Mode Operation
analysis for the reflection or transmission broadside beams is
In the RA case, the unit cell only works in reflection mode systematically analyzed and summarized in Table I. For more
with two codes of “00” and “11.” We first investigate the in-depth discussions on gain loss calculations for arbitrary RA
backward beam’s radiation performance with (θR0 , ϕR0 ) = and TA, we refer the reader to [31], [32], [33]. Since the phase
(180◦, 0◦ ). The RA coding distribution over the aperture plane is limited to 1-bit, the quantization loss is approximately 3 dB
can be calculated according to the quantized phase distribution [34]. It indicates that the maximum aperture efficiencies for
using (4). Fig. 13 presents the simulated and the measured TA and RA modes are proximately 50%.
radiation gains within the frequency band of 8.5–10.5 GHz.
The measured gain at 9.5 GHz is 21.0 dBi, corresponding to
an aperture efficiency of 17.3%, and the 3 dB gain bandwidth E. TRA Function Verification
is 19.9% (8.6–10.5 GHz). The differences between simulated TRA function integration with the simultaneous bidirec-
and measured gain are mainly due to the additional loss tional beam switching can be considered as a multibeam
caused by the malfunctioning PIN diodes in the fabricated optimization problem. Two direct design methods [35], [36]
prototype, the influence of the room for PIN diode dc lines are available for realizing a reconfigurable aperture with a
and digital commands, and the inaccurate characterization of reflection beam and a transmission beam at the same time. The
the equivalent parameters of PIN diodes. first approach is geometrical aperture division (GAD) design,
Fig. 14 presents the measured radiation patterns in xoz-, and the aperture surface is divided into two subarrays where
yoz-, and D-plane at 9.0, 9.5, and 10 GHz. Since the reconfig- each subarray can then radiate a reflection or transmission
urable aperture is in a copolarized response, the x-polarization beam in the required direction, as shown in Fig. 17(a). Another
components are dominant in the lower hemisphere. Mea- approach for bidirectional beam designs is by using the SAF
sured HPBWs at 9.5 GHz of x-polarization components in associated with reflection or transmission modes on the aper-
xoz- and yoz-planes are 8.1◦ and 9.3◦ , respectively. SLLs in ture, as shown in Fig. 17(b). The entire array is divided into the
xoz- and yoz-planes are −13.3 and −9.4 dB, the SLLs increase transmission and reflection modes optimization distribution.
is mainly attributed to the feed blockage for the reflected beam, Namely, only part of the elements in the TRA aperture work
which can be reduced for a larger array. Besides, in order to in transmission mode, and the remaining elements work in the
reduce the feed blockage, the schemes of offset feed [13], and reflection mode, and the TRA array can be regarded as two
low-profile feed antennae, such as the Vivaldi antenna [25], are sparse configurations with respect to the full TA/RA.
usually adopted. The y-polarization levels are below −30 dB. To demonstrate the bidirectional design capabilities of
The measured x-polarization radiation patterns within ±60◦ two approaches, we will study a bidirectional radiation
scan range in xoz-plane and ±45◦ scan range in yoz (D)-planes performance, in which the transmitted beam direction is
are plotted in Fig. 15, where they are normalized to the gain set to (θT0 , ϕT0 ) = (0◦ , 90◦ ) and the reflected one is

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588 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY 2023

Fig. 11. Radiation patterns of y-polarization for beam scanned every 15◦ in xoz-, yoz-, and D-plane. (a)–(c) Are the patterns at 9.0 GHz. (d)–(f) Are the
patterns at 9.5 GHz. (g)–(i) Are the patterns at 10 GHz.

Fig. 12. Measured reflection coefficient of the focal source in TA modes.

(θR0 , ϕR0 ) = (170◦ , 90◦ ). The radiation pattern of space-fed Fig. 13. Gain and aperture efficiency of reflected broadside beam.
array antennas can be fast analyzed by array theory [31],
[32]; however, the polarization of the array model is not
considered in the analysis here. Because only one kind of also show that the SLL is −11.5 dB for the GAD design
polarization is being dominated in each hemisphere, the impact and −17.0 dB for the SAF design. Calculated bidirectional
of polarization can be ignored for simplicity. radiation characteristics of GAD design and SAF design are
The calculated normalized radiation pattern of two methods summarized in Table II.
in yoz-plane using array synthesis are plotted in Fig. 18. It can For the bidirectional beam designed with the GAD
be seen that both design methods can realize a bidirectional approach, one second of the power from the feed horn generate
radiation pattern in the required directions. The beamwidths of each beam, and the amplitude distribution in each zone is
the SAF design are identical to the full TA and RA, while the maximum at the outer edge, which results in a significant
GAD design has wider beamwidths. The radiation patterns increase in the SLLs and beamwidth [32]. For the bidirectional

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YU et al.: RECONFIGURABLE BIDIRECTIONAL BEAM-STEERING APERTURE WITH TA, RA, AND TRA MODES SWITCHING 589

Fig. 14. Simulated and measured broadside far-field radiation patterns in xoz-, yoz-, and D-plane. (a)–(c) Are the patterns at 9.0 GHz. (d)–(f) Are the patterns
at 9.5 GHz. (g)–(i) Are the patterns at 10 GHz.

Fig. 15. Radiation patterns of x-polarization for beam scanned every 15◦ in xoz-, yoz-, and D-plane. (a)–(c) Are the patterns at 9.0 GHz. (d)–(f) Are the
patterns at 9.5 GHz. (g)–(i) Are the patterns at 10 GHz.

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590 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY 2023

Fig. 16. Measured reflection coefficient of focal source in RA modes.

Fig. 18. Calculated normalized bidirectional radiation patterns in yoz-plane
of the GAD design and SAF design.

1) Generate 256 binary variables (A) using a random

initialization with an equal 0/1 probability for each element.
If Am,n = 1 means that (m, n)-th unit cell is working in the
reflection mode, while Am,n = 0 is in transmission mode.
RA
Therefore, the excitations (Im,n ) of the unit cell in reflection
mode are Am,n , the excitations (Im,n TA
) of the unit cell in
transmission mode are |1 −Am,n |.
2) Determine the beam directions of transmission and
reflection waves. Then, generate two variables (ϕ0RA and ϕ0TA )
Fig. 17. Two design methods for TRA function. (a) GAD design and (b) SAF in the range of [0 2π] for two constant phases. Using (1) and
design. RA
(2), to obtain the RA and TA needed quantization phases (ϕm,n
and ϕm,n ). The quantization phase of each element for TRA
TA
TABLE II
is
C ALCULATED R ADIATION C HARACTERISTICS
OF GAD AND SAF M ETHODS
ϕm,n
TRA
= Im,n ϕm,n + Im,n
RA RA
ϕm,n .
TA TA
(5)

3) Compute the far-field radiation pattern in the lower hemi-

RA
sphere from Im,n and ϕm,n
TRA
. And compute the far-field radiation
pattern in the upper hemisphere from Im,n TA
and ϕm,n
TRA
. It is
noted that the impact of polarization is ignored for simplicity,
beam designed using the SAF method, the high side lobes due to only one kind of polarization being dominated in each
are due to the amplitude errors, which alter the required hemisphere. To implement spectral transforms in the array
illumination taper on the aperture. theory formulation, a direct relationship between the array
Next, we will give the optimization process of SAF design. elements (m, n) and angular coordinates (u = sin θ cos ϕ,
The optimized design of two sparse antenna arrays should v = sin θ sin ϕ) is needed.
be performed to minimum SLLs and peak gain for each 4) To achieve bidirectional patterns, far-field masks are
bidirectional beam. Since the location for each element is defined in full space for the optimization to minimum SLLs
fixed, the element codes only need to be optimized. When the and peak gain. The mask definition usually requires defining
EM wave impinges on the coding particle with the state “00” upper and lower bound values of the desired pattern in the
and “11,” it will be totally reflected in the backward space, entire angular range, as shown in Figs. 19(a) and (b) and 20.
and in contrast, it will be totally transmitted to the forward The required masks for radiation patterns are typically circular
space when the states are “10” and “01.” Once the encoding contours defined in the direction of each beam. The fitness
arrangement of the array is determined, the far-field radiation function [35] defined for this optimization is
pattern of a space-fed array antenna can be fast and efficiently
calculated using the array synthesized theory. A powerful FitnessTRA = FitnessTA + FitnessRA (6-1)
global search algorithm, namely the PSO algorithm [37], is 
FitnessTA,RA = w1 (|E(u, v)| − M L (u, v))2
used for TRA array synthesis problems to find the optimal
(u,v)∈mainbeam
codes of each bidirectional beam. and|E(u,v)<ML (u,v)
Since the array aperture contains 256 elements and each ele- 
+ w2 (|E(u, v)| − MU (u, v))2
ment has four states, the solution space consists of 4256 cases. (u,v)∈mainbeam
/
In order to reduce computational complexity, the following and|E(u,v)|>ML (u,v)
optimization procedures are employed as follows: (6-2)

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YU et al.: RECONFIGURABLE BIDIRECTIONAL BEAM-STEERING APERTURE WITH TA, RA, AND TRA MODES SWITCHING 591

Fig. 20. Array synthesized asymmetric bidirectional radiation patterns in

yoz-plane at 9.5 GHz.

TABLE III
G AIN L OSS A NALYSIS FOR B IDIRECTIONAL B EAMS AT 9.5 GHz
Fig. 19. (a) Upper and (b) lower bounds of the radiation pattern mask in the
top hemisphere. Array synthesized asymmetric bidirectional radiation patterns
of (c) transmitted beam with the direction of (θT0 , ϕT0 ) = (0◦ , 90◦ ) in the top
hemisphere, and (d) reflected beam with the direction of (θR0 , ϕR0 ) = (170◦ ,
90◦ ) in the bottom hemisphere.

where MU and M L are the upper and lower bounds of the

radiation pattern mask, respectively, and E is the far-field
radiation pattern of the antenna. The first term in the fitness
function (6 − 2) calculates the absolute difference between the
radiation pattern and the lower bound for evaluating the main
beam performance. The second term evaluates the side lobe
performance the entire angular range that does not belong to
the main beam area. w1 and w2 are the weights of two terms,
in this case, w1 = 2 and w1 = 1. This function considers the
performance of every point in the visible space.
5) PSO optimization is employed to optimize A, ϕ0RA , and
ϕ0 to minimize the fitness function in the optimization loop.
TA

The coefficient of constriction [37] is used in the equations of of 200 particles is selected. Array synthesized asymmetric
particle motion to accelerate the algorithm convergence. bidirectional radiation patterns of the transmitted beam with
6) When the algorithm meets the convergence conditions, the direction of (θT0 , ϕT0 ) = (0◦ , 90◦ ) in the top hemisphere,
the optimized A, ϕ0RA , and ϕ0TA values are obtained. Using and reflected beam with the direction of (170◦ , 90◦ ) in
the principles in (3) and (4), we can calculate the optimized the bottom hemisphere are illustrated in Fig. 19(c) and (d).
codes, which correspond to ON / OFF states of 512 diodes. Fig. 20 shows the 2-D synthesized asymmetric bidirectional
The flowchart of bidirectional beams optimization is shown radiation patterns, which can be seen the synthesized patterns
in Fig. 21. are limited in upper and lower bounds. Optimized transmission
In our first example, the transmitted beam direction is set and reflection mode distribution, where white represents the
to (θT0 , ϕT0 ) = (0◦ , 90◦ ) and the reflected one is (θR0 , reflection mode and black represents the transmission mode,
ϕR0 ) = (170◦, 90◦ ). The upper and lower bounds of the is shown in Fig. 22(a). Fig. 22(b) gives optimized codes for
radiation pattern mask in the top hemisphere are shown in the total RTA with the transmission beam toward θT0 = 0◦
Fig. 19 (a) and (b). The pattern masks in the lower hemi- and the reflection beam toward θR0 = 170◦ in yoz-plane.
sphere are the same, which are not shown here. The 2-D The measured reflection coefficient of focal source is plotted
radiation pattern mask in the yoz-plane is also shown in in Fig. 23. The measured far-field patterns are plotted in
Fig. 20. The SLLs are set at −17 dB, which is the minimum Fig. 24(a). The measured SLLs for transmitted and reflected
value according to our optimization experience, due to 1-bit beams are −15.9 and −12.4 dB, respectively.
phase quantization and sparse configurations all resulting in an The gain-loss analysis for the TRA mode is systematically
increase of SLLs. The computation time for pattern optimiza- analyzed and summarized in Table III. It is worth mention-
tion depends on the far-field resolution and the population of ing that the input energy is divided between reflection and
particles. transmission, resulting in at least 3 dB bidirectional beam
In the optimization, a far-field pattern with 361 × 361 points loss; the maximum aperture efficiencies for TRA modes are
spaced in the full space is used here. A swarm population proximately 25%.

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592 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY 2023

TABLE IV
W ORKING M ODES AND R ADIATION P OLARIZATION C HARACTERISTICS OF THE P ROPOSED B IDIRECTIONAL A PERTURE

TABLE V
P ERFORMANCE C OMPARISON OF R ECONFIGURABLE S PATIALLY F ED A RRAY B ETWEEN T HIS W ORK AND P REVIOUS R ESEARCH

Fig. 22. (a) Optimized transmission and reflection mode distribution, where
white represents the transmission mode and black represents the reflection
mode. (b) Optimized codes for the total RTA with the transmission beam
toward θT0 = 0◦ and the reflection beam toward θR0 = 170◦ in yoz-plane.

Fig. 21. Flowchart of bidirectional beam optimization.

Since the optimized codes are related to the bias volt-

age controlled by FPGA, the functionalities of bidirectional
beams can be dynamically adjusted as desired. To show the
bidirectional beam scanning ability, the measured patterns at
9.5 GHz with other different beam directions in the yoz-plane
are plotted in Fig. 24(b)–(d). And the corresponding measured
reflection coefficients of focal source in TRA modes are
Fig. 23. Measured reflection coefficient of focal source in TRA modes.
plotted in Fig. 23. It is clear that the measured results prove
the reconfigurability of bidirectional beams.
This kind of planar antenna requires an installation platform lines and digital commands. Since a small amount of energy
with struts for mechanical stiffness with room for PIN diode dc from the feed is incident on the edge installation platform

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YU et al.: RECONFIGURABLE BIDIRECTIONAL BEAM-STEERING APERTURE WITH TA, RA, AND TRA MODES SWITCHING 593

Fig. 24. Simulated and measured far-field patterns of TRA mode in yoz plane at 9.5 GHz. (a) θT0 = 0◦ , θR0 = 170◦ , (b) θT0 = −20◦ , θR0 = 200◦ , (c) θT0 =
−30◦ , θR0 = 140◦ , and (d) θT0 = 0◦ , θR0 = 150◦ .

and reflected, resulting in higher SLLs of the reflection beam. A performance comparison of the reconfigurable spatially
Microwave-absorbing materials can be used to cover the edge fed array between this work and previous research is presented
installation platform to suppress SLLs. in Table V. The advantage and original contribution of this
In this design, each element integrates two PIN diodes, work proposes novel functionalities, i.e., the integration of
512 PIN diodes are connected to two 256-way FPGA-based reconfigurable TA, RA, and TRA for simultaneous and time-
voltage control boards. In the TA mode, since 256 PIN diodes division full-space beam scanning.
work in the ON state with a forward voltage of 1.33 V
and a biasing current of 10 mA, while it is negligible for IV. C ONCLUSION AND D ISCUSSION
the OFF-state PIN diodes, the total dc power consumption In this article, we present a multifunctional integrated
is estimated to be 1.33 V × 10 mA × 256 = 3.4 W. reconfigurable aperture, which can manipulate reflected or
In RA and TRA modes, the number of diodes working in transmitted waves both in simultaneous and time-division
the “ON” state is related to the scanning angle. According to operating modes. A 256-element aperture fed by a pyramidal
the coding arrangements of the RA and TRA modes. It can horn antenna is designed to produce a pencil or bidirectional
be concluded that the number of diodes working in the “ON” beam in desired directions at two half-spaces. Different beam
state, and the power consumption of the whole antenna panel states (RA, TA, and TRA modes) can be switched dynami-
is approximately 3.4–3.5 W. The extra control board will cally by controlling the bias voltages using an FPGA-based
also have some power consumption, such as the voltage bias digital control circuit. The measured results are consistent
circuit, voltage conversion circuit, and the FPGA; this will take with the numerical simulations, which prove the bidirectional
approximately 10–20 W. functionalities of a reconfigurable antenna. Besides, by using
The above results prove the 3-D beam steering ability of the the superposition optimization of the aperture fields, which is
proposed aperture that can realize simultaneous beam scanning associated with reflection or transmission modes on a shared
of transmitted and reflected beams. Table IV summarizes the aperture, reconfigurable bidirectional beams are generated with
working modes and radiation polarization characteristics of the SLLs suppression. This method paves the way for attaining
the proposed bidirectional aperture to achieve simultaneous a bidirectional reconfigurable spatially fed array.
and time-division bidirectional beam scanning. It is worth For its value in practical applications in the specific system,
mentioning that the transmission and reflection beams are unlike traditional TA or RA antennas, which can only achieve
polarization-dependent, which may be limited in some appli- beamforming and beam scanning in one hemisphere while
cation scenarios. To solve above issue, a linear transmission the other hemisphere is not utilized. Due to their low-cost
polarization converter [30] can be placed in front of this electronic bidirectional beam coverage forming capabilities
antenna. required by advanced communication systems, reconfigurable
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594 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 71, NO. 1, JANUARY 2023

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approaches for beamforming applications,” IEEE Trans. Antennas B.S. degree in communication engineering from the
Propag., vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 5679–5689, Dec. 2012. Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, China,
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steering,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 4880–4885, cation University of China, Beijing, China, in 2022.
Sep. 2017. His research interests include metasurfaces, low-
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YU et al.: RECONFIGURABLE BIDIRECTIONAL BEAM-STEERING APERTURE WITH TA, RA, AND TRA MODES SWITCHING 595

Pan Li (Student Member, IEEE) received the B.S. Shenheng Xu (Member, IEEE) received the
degree in electromagnetic field and wireless technol- B.S. and M.S. degrees from Southeast University,
ogy from the Xi’an University of Post and Telecom- Nanjing, China, in 2001 and 2004, respectively,
munications, Xi’an, China, in 2016, and the M.S. and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from
degree in electromagnetic field and microwave tech- the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA),
nology from Xidian University, Xi’an, in 2019. She Los Angeles, CA, USA, in 2009.
is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electromag- From 2000 to 2004, he was a Research Assistant
netic field and microwave technology with the Com- with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves,
munication University of China, Beijing, China. Southeast University, Nanjing. From 2004 to 2011,
Her current research interests include reconfig- he was a Graduate Student Researcher and later
urable metasurface and phased arrays combined with a Post-Doctoral Researcher with the Antenna
their scattering suppression technology. Research, Analysis, and Measurement Laboratory, UCLA. In 2012, he joined
the Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing,
China, as an Associate Professor. His research interests include novel designs
of high-gain antennas for advanced applications, artificial electromagnetic
structures, and electromagnetic and antenna theories.

Fan Yang (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S. and M.S.

degrees from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in
Jianxun Su (Member, IEEE) received the B.S.
1997 and 1999, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree
degree in electronic information engineering from
from the University of California at Los Angeles
the Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan,
(UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA, in 2002.
China, in 2006, the M.S. degree in electromagnetic
From 1994 to 1999, he was a Research Assis-
field and microwave technology from the Communi-
tant at the State Key Laboratory of Microwave
cation University of China, Beijing, China, in 2008,
and Digital Communications, Tsinghua University.
and the Ph.D. degree in electromagnetic field and
From 1999 to 2002, he was a Graduate Student
microwave technology from the Beijing Institute of
Researcher at the Antenna Laboratory, UCLA. From
Technology, Beijing, in 2011.
2002 to 2004, he was a Post-Doctoral Research
From 2012 to 2014, he was with China Electronics
Engineer and Instructor at the Electrical Engineering Department, UCLA.
Technology Group Corporation (CETC), Beijing,
In 2004, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department, University of
where he was involved in phased-array system research. He is currently a Pro-
Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA, as an Assistant Professor, and was promoted
fessor with the School of Information Engineering, Communication University
to an Associate Professor in 2009. In 2011, he joined the Electronic Engi-
of China, and also with the Science and Technology on Electromagnetic
neering Department, Tsinghua University as a Professor, and served as the
Scattering Laboratory. His special research interests include integral equation
Director of the Microwave and Antenna Institute, Beijing, until 2020. His
methods, metamaterial, phased-array antennas, and radar target characteristics.
research interests include antennas, surface electromagnetics, computational
electromagnetics, and applied electromagnetic systems. He has published
over 500 journal articles and conference papers, eight book chapters, and
six books entitled Surface Electromagnetics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2019),
Reflectarray Antennas: Theory, Designs, and Applications (IEEE-Wiley,
2018), Analysis and Design of Transmitarray Antennas (Morgan & Claypool,
2017), Scattering Analysis of Periodic Structures Using Finite-Difference
Time-Domain Method (Morgan & Claypool, 2012), Electromagnetic Band
Gap Structures in Antenna Engineering (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2009), and
Zengrui Li (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. Electromagnetics and Antenna Optimization Using Taguchi’s Method (Morgan
degree in communication and information system & Claypool, 2007).
from Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China, Dr. Yang served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE T RANSACTIONS
in 1984, the M.S. degree in electrical engineer- ON A NTENNAS AND P ROPAGATION (2010–2013) and an Associate Editor-
ing from Beijing Broadcasting Institute, Beijing, in-Chief of Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society (ACES) Jour-
in 1987, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineer- nal (2008–2014). He was the Technical Program Committee (TPC) Chair
ing from Beijing Jiaotong University in 2009. of 2014 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and
From 2004 to 2005, he was a Visiting Researcher USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting. He has been the recipient of several
with Yokohama National University, Yokohama, prestigious awards and recognitions, including the Young Scientist Award
Japan. He is currently a Professor with the School of the 2005 URSI General Assembly, the 2007 International Symposium
of Information Engineering, Communication Univer- on Electromagnetic Theory, the 2008 Junior Faculty Research Award of the
sity of China, Beijing. His research interests include the areas of computational University of Mississippi, the 2009 inaugural IEEE Donald G. Dudley Jr.
electromagnetics, finite-difference time-domain methods, electromagnetic Undergraduate Teaching Award, and the 2011 Recipient of Global Experts
modeling and simulation of antennas, and communication antennas. Program of China. He is an ACES Fellow as well as an IEEE APS
Dr. Li is a Senior Member of the Chinese Institute of Electronics, Beijing. Distinguished Lecturer from 2018 to 2021.

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