Design and Optimization of a Shared Aperture Multifunctional Metasurface Antenna

A single metasurface is designed which can convert a traveling-wave antenna’s feed wave into a collection of radiation patterns. Multiple holographic patterns are jointly optimized to create a series of steered beams through a switched-feed architecture. The design procedure is explained and contrasted with other methods. We then investigate a vast design space—including the feed-type, the comprising metasurface element geometries and their patterning, and the overall structure’s properties—and discuss how they impact the ability to multiplex information into the metasurface. The structure presents the opportunity to emulate a limited version of a phased array from a substantially simpler architecture.