Method and apparatus for a metastructure switched antenna in a wireless device

1. A wireless device, comprising:

a plurality of metastructure switched antennas, each metastructure switched antenna comprising a first layer comprising a feed network layer, a second layer comprising an RFIC layer, and a third layer comprising an array of metastructures; and

a controller for selecting a metastructure switched antenna from the plurality of metastructure switched antennas and determining a direction for transmission of a beam from the selected metastructure switched antenna.

2. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the feed network layer comprises a plurality of transmission paths to distribute a transmission signal to the array of metastructures, each transmission path receiving a proportional share of the transmission signal.

3. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the RFIC layer is adapted to switch the beam to a plurality of directions.

4. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the array of metastructures comprises an array of metamaterial cells.

5. The wireless device of claim 4 , wherein each metamaterial cell in the array of metamaterial cells comprises:

a conductive outer loop; and

a conductive patch circumscribed within the conductive outer loop, wherein a reactance control device is placed between the conductive outer loop and the conducive patch.

6. The wireless device of claim 5 , wherein the reactance control device comprises a varactor to generate a plurality of phase shifts.

7. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the RFIC layer comprises a plurality of phase shifters selected from a varactor, a set of varactors, a phase shift network, and a vector modulator to generate a plurality of phase shifts.

8. The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the array of metastructure cells is arranged into a plurality of subarrays for transmitting multiple beams in multiple directions.

9. A metastructure switched antenna system for use in a wireless device, comprising:

a metastructure switched antenna comprising a first layer comprising a feed network layer, a second layer comprising an RFIC layer, and a third layer comprising an array of metastructures; and

an antenna controller in communication with a metastructure switched antenna controller in the wireless device configured to control a direction of a beam transmitted from the metastructure switched antenna.

10. The metastructure switched antenna system of claim 9 , further comprising a transmission signal controller to generate a transmission signal for the metastructure switched antenna.

11. The metastructure switched antenna system of claim 9 , wherein the feed network layer comprises a plurality of transmission paths configured to distribute the transmission signal to the array of metastructures, each transmission path receiving a proportional share of the transmission signal.

12. The metastructure switched antenna system of claim 9 , wherein the RFIC layer is adapted to switch the beam to a plurality of directions.

13. The metastructure switched antenna system of claim 12 , wherein the RFIC layer comprises a plurality of phase shifters selected from a varactor, a set of varactors, a phase shift network, and a vector modulator configured to generate a plurality of phase shifts.

14. The metastructure switched antenna system of claim 9 , wherein the array of metastructures comprises an array of metamaterial cells, each metamaterial cell comprising

a conductive outer loop; and

a conductive patch circumscribed within the conductive outer loop, wherein a reactance control device is placed between the conductive outer loop and the conducive patch.

15. The metastructure switched antenna system of claim 9 , wherein the antenna controller receives information from the metastructure switched antenna controller indicating a next RF beam specified by parameters comprising a beam width, a transmit angle, and a transmit direction.

16. A method for operating a wireless device having a plurality of metastructure switched antennas, the method comprising:

selecting a metastructure switched antenna from the plurality of metastructure switched antennas, each metastructure switched antenna comprising a first layer comprising a feed network layer, a second layer comprising an RFIC layer, and a third layer comprising an array of metastructure cells;

switching a direction of a beam to be transmitted from the selected metastructure switched antenna;

selecting a beam direction; and

transmitting the beam at the selected beam direction.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein switching the direction of the beam to be transmitted from the selected metastructure switched antenna comprises directing the RFIC layer in the selected metastructure switched antenna to generate a phase shift corresponding to the direction of the beam.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein switching a direction of the beam to be transmitted from the selected metastructure switched antenna comprises generating a bias voltage for a reactance control device in a metastructure cell in the array of metastructure cells.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein selecting the beam direction comprises informing the selected beam direction to an antenna controller in the metastructure switched antenna.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein transmitting the beam at the selected beam direction comprises radiating the beam at the selected beam direction from the array of metastructures in the selected metastructure switched antenna.