INTELLIGENT METAMATERIAL RADAR HAVING A DYNAMICALLY CONTROLLABLE ANTENNA
Examples disclosed herein relate to an intelligent metamaterial radar. The radar has an Intelligent Metamaterial (“iMTM”) antenna module to radiate a transmission signal with a dynamically controllable iMTM antenna in a plurality of directions based on a controlled reactance and generate radar data capturing a surrounding environment. The radar also has an iMTM interface module to detect and identify a target in the surrounding environment from the radar data and to control the iMTM antenna module.
1 . A radar system, comprising:
an Intelligent Metamaterial (“iMTM”) antenna comprising an impedance-matched feed network comprising a distributed varactor network, the iMTM antenna configured to transmit a signal and generate radar data capturing an environment, the iMTM antenna further configured to provide a plurality of phase shifts in the signal via the distributed varactor network; and
an iMTM interface module configured to detect and identify a target in the environment from the radar data and to control the iMTM antenna.
2 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the iMTM antenna further comprises a plurality of iMTM cells and a plurality of subarrays, wherein different subsets of the plurality of iMTM cells are arranged into different subarrays of the plurality of subarrays.
3 . The radar system of claim 2 , wherein each iMTM cell in the plurality of iMTM cells comprises a varactor configured to provide a plurality of phase shifts in the signal based on a change in the applied voltage to one or more variable reactance parameters in one or more iMTM cells of the plurality of iMTM cells.
4 . The radar system of claim 1 , wherein the iMTM antenna further comprises a transmission array configured into a plurality of super elements.
5 . The radar system of claim 4 , wherein the transmission array is coupled to the impedance-matched feed network.
6 . The radar system of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of super elements is formed by a plurality of slots in the transmission array.
7 . The radar system of claim 4 , wherein the iMTM antenna further comprises a reactance control module comprising a phase shift network.
8 . A method for operating an Intelligent Metamaterial (“iMTM”) antenna in a radar system, the method comprising:
transmitting, via the iMTM antenna, a signal comprising one or more radio frequency (RF) beams to an environment;
creating, via the iMTM antenna, a plurality of phase shifts in the signal corresponding to a change in a radiation pattern caused by an applied voltage to one or more variable reactance parameters of one or more iMTM cells of the iMTM antenna;
receiving reflected RF beams from the environment;
generating radar data from the reflected RF beams; and
identifying a target in the environment based on the generated radar data.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the iMTM antenna comprises a plurality of iMTM cells configured into a plurality of subarrays.
10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein different subsets of the plurality of iMTM cells are arranged into different subarrays of the plurality of subarrays.
11 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
controlling a reactance of each iMTM cell in the plurality of iMTM cells; and
generating a phase shift based on the controlled reactance.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the reactance is controlled via an impedance-matched feed network of the iMTM antenna.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the signal is transmitted through the impedance-matched feed network and a transmission array coupled to the impedance-matched feed network.
14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the transmission array comprises a plurality of super elements formed by a plurality of slots in the transmission array.
15 . An Intelligent Metamaterial (“iMTM”) antenna, comprising:
an impedance-matched feed network comprising a distributed varactor network; and
an array of iMTM cells comprising a plurality of iMTM cells and a plurality of subarrays configured to transmit a signal comprising a plurality of RF beams having a plurality of phase shifts,
wherein each iMTM cell of the plurality of iMTM cells provides a phase shift that corresponds to a change in a radiation pattern caused by an applied voltage to one or more variable reactance parameters of the iMTM cell.
16 . The iMTM antenna of claim 15 , wherein different subsets of the plurality of iMTM cells are arranged into different subarrays of the plurality of subarrays.
17 . The iMTM antenna of claim 15 , further comprising:
a transmission array coupled to the impedance-matched feed network, the transmission array configured into a plurality of super elements that are formed by a plurality of slots in the transmission array.
18 . The iMTM antenna of claim 15 , wherein the impedance-matched feed network comprises a reactance control module having a phase shift network, the phase shift network comprising the distributed varactor network.
19 . The iMTM antenna of claim 18 , wherein each iMTM cell of the plurality of iMTM cells comprises a reactance control device configured to generate the phase shift according to a reactance of the reactance control device.
20 . The iMTM antenna of claim 19 , wherein the plurality of phase shifts are generated by the reactance control device in each iMTM cell and the reactance control module, the reactance control device generating a phase shift in a first direction and the reactance control module generating a phase shift in a second direction different from the first direction.