Holographic Smart EM Skins for Advanced Beam Power Shaping in Next Generation Wireless Environments

• Published in: IEEE journal on multiscale and multiphysics computational techniques Vol. 6; pp. 171 - 182
• Main Authors: Oliveri, Giacomo, Rocca, Paolo, Salucci, Marco, Massa, Andrea
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Array signal processing; Beamforming; Design optimization; EM holography; Holography; Iterative methods; iterative projection method; metamaterials; Metasurfaces; Next generation networking; next-generation communications; Optimization; Optimized production technology; Smart Skins; Surface impedance; Surface matching; system-by-design; Target masking; Wireless communication
• ISSN: 2379-8815; 2379-8815
• DOI: 10.1109/JMMCT.2021.3121300

An innovative approachfor the synthesis of inexpensive holographic smart electromagnetic (EM) skins with advanced beamforming features is proposed. The complex multi-scale smart skin design is formulated within the Generalized Sheet Transition Condition (GSTC) framework as a combination of a mask-constrained isophoric inverse source problem and a micro-scale susceptibility dyadic optimization. The solution strategy integrates a local search procedure based on the iterative projection technique (IPT) and a System-by-Design(SbD)-based optimization loop for the identification of optimal metasurface descriptors matching the desired surface currents. The performance and the efficiency of the proposed approach are assessed in a set of representative numerical test cases concerned with different smart skin apertures and target pattern masks.