Method and apparatus for wireless infrastructure
Examples disclosed herein relate to a meta-structure based reflectarray for beamforming wireless applications and a method of operation of passive reflectarrays in an indoor environment. The method includes receiving, by a plurality of passive reflectarrays, a Radio Frequency (RF) signal from a source. The method also includes reflecting, by the plurality of passive reflectarrays, the RF signal to generate a plurality of RF beams to a respective target coverage area, in which each of the plurality of RF beams increases a multipath gain along a signal path between a corresponding passive reflectarray to the respective target coverage area.
1. A wireless infrastructure apparatus, comprising:
a substrate;
a reflectarray layer on the substrate,
the reflectarray layer comprising a plurality of reflector elements; and
an overlay for the reflectarray layer; wherein the overlay comprises a reflector element positioned on the overlay to modify a directivity of at least one reflectarray.
2. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein reflectarray layer includes a first reflectarray and a second reflectarray each positioned to receive incident waves and reflect the incident waves into a first area and a second area.
3. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 2 , wherein the first reflectarray has a first directivity and the second reflectarray has a second directivity, and wherein the plurality of reflector elements are meta-structure elements.
4. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 2 , wherein the reflectarray layer has reciprocal directivity for user signals received from outside a line of sight area and reflect the user signals to a radio transmitter.
5. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 3 , wherein a set of the plurality of reflector elements comprise a first size element and a second size element different from the first size element.
6. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 3 , wherein the at least one reflectarray comprises a first grouping of the plurality of reflector elements having a first directivity and a second grouping of the plurality of reflector elements having a second directivity.
7. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein a set of the plurality of reflector elements is selected from a catalog of reflectarray configurations.
8. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the overlay is selected from a catalog of overlays.
9. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the reflectarray is a passive reflector, in a fixed position.
10. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 9 , wherein the fixed position is between a radio transmitter and a non-line of sight area, wherein the passive reflector receives incident wave signals from the radio transmitter and reflects the incident wave signals into the non-line of sight area.
11. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 10 , wherein the reflectarray layer comprises a patterned metal layer.
12. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , further comprising a removable cover.
13. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the reflectarray layer is adapted to reflect signals for coverage of a geographical area.
14. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 13 , wherein the reflectarray layer receives incident Radio Frequency (RF) signals in a wireless communication system.
15. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the wireless infrastructure apparatus is a passive device.
16. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the reflectarray layer reflects incident RF waves with increased signal gain.
17. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 16 , wherein the plurality of reflector elements are smaller than a wavelength of the incident RF waves.
18. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , further comprising a second reflectarray layer responsive to reflect signals at a second directivity.
19. The wireless infrastructure apparatus as in claim 1 , wherein the reflectarray form a stack.