Design and Experimental Validation of a Switchable Frequency Selective Surface with Incorporated Control Network.

Area of Science:

• Electromagnetics and Applied Physics
• Microwave Engineering
• Metamaterials and Metasurfaces

Background:

• Modern communication systems increasingly demand tunable and switchable devices.
• Active devices requiring bias are essential for achieving tuning, posing design challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and experimentally validate a novel switchable Frequency Selective Surface (FSS).
• To introduce an innovative control network (CN) for biasing active elements within the FSS.
• To investigate the performance of a finite array of FSS unit cells.

Main Methods:

• Electromagnetic simulation of metallic structures with integrated PIN diodes.
• Experimental validation of fabricated FSS prototypes on FR4 substrate.
• Characterization of FSS performance under varying PIN diode bias conditions (open/short circuit).
• Anechoic chamber testing for wide-angle and polarization performance (TE/TM).

Main Results:

• Achieved switchable filtering bands below 12 GHz using PIN diode biasing.
• Demonstrated good agreement between simulated and measured results.
• Validated performance for finite FSS arrays, a less-explored area.
• Confirmed effective operation for both TE and TM polarizations across wide angular incidence.

Conclusions:

• The proposed FSS design with an integrated control network offers effective tunability for communication systems.
• The use of a finite array and PIN diodes provides a practical and novel approach to switchable FSS.
• Experimental results confirm the design's viability and performance under realistic conditions.