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In this paper, a characteristic mode (CM)-based design methodology is developed for the reconfigurable microwave metasurface absorbers (MMA) with using commercially available substrates. Theoretical intrinsic connection between modal behaviors and absorption properties is first formulated for the design of the structures. As a proof of the method, a broadband MMA consisting of butterfly elements is step-by-step designed. The positions and values of the impedance loading are determined based on the modal significances and modal currents for broadband operation. The absorption performance is evaluated by the formulated theoretical model and verified by full-wave simulation. After that, a flexible implementation a employed for free-form surfaces conformal. Experimentally, the proposed MMA is fabricated and measured. The absorption fractional bandwidth with reflectivity less than –10 dB is achieved from 3.6 to 11.6 GHz (105%). Good agreements between the simulation and measurement results for both planar and cylindrical cases validate the developed CM-based design methodology. The mimicry of time-varying scattering cross section (SCS) is then further realized through real-time coding absorption states, which is a promising candidate for practical electromagnetic systems.

This work presents a printed monopole antenna with a miniature size and enhanced wideband using characteristic mode analysis (CMA). The printed monopole antenna structure comprises one vertical and one horizontal monopole, and a ground plane with a vertical extension. By connecting the horizontal monopole to the ground plane extension through a via hole, a significant enhancement in bandwidth is achieved in both lower and high bands. A 105% increment in bandwidth is achieved with the via hole compared to without it. The influence of the via hole is analyzed using CMA to provide a physical insight into the design. The proposed antenna is compact with an electrical size of 0.01 λ2, leading to a miniaturized design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, a novel unit-cell design for a 2-bit reflective metasurface using the theory of characteristic modes is presented. The initial unit-cell consists of three sub-patches with 2-PIN diodes integrated within the gaps between sub-patches. The initial structure provides limited tuning of the phase curves with the change in switching states of PIN diodes. To provide the phase deviation required for the 2-bit operation, the symmetry of the modal currents is used to propose multiple slots in the sub-patches. Slots are introduced to lower the resonant frequencies, as well as provide tuning of the resonance of modes and consequently phase change between different switching states. For further resonance tuning and phase optimization, two vias are loaded in the middle patch to provide a 90° phase difference between each switching state. Simulated results show that the proposed unit-cell design with the aid of characteristic modes has a smaller size and provides 2-bit operation in the frequency range of 3.9–4.04 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a method of using modal analysis to characterize the circular polarization (CP) performance of a printed monopole antenna. The radiator and feedline are positioned on the edge of the substrate and fed accordingly at the edge, and a modified ground plane is employed. The complete antenna without excitation is analyzed using characteristic mode theory to provide physical insight into its CP operation. The modal analysis proves that several nearly orthogonal modes can be generated at certain frequencies with orthogonal phase differences as well. The axial ratio (AR) corresponds to the modal analysis which proves the validity of the modal analysis. An axial ratio bandwidth from 3.1 to 6.2 GHz (66. 7%) is achieved within an S11 bandwidth of 2.6–11 GHz (123.5%). The proposed antenna is compact with stable radiation patterns, easy to design, and fabricate without inserting parasitic patches or inserting slots on the antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, modal analysis is used as a guide to design a circularly polarized open‐slot antenna. The design proposes an open wide slot that is fed electromagnetically by a modified feedline. Both open slot and feedline are asymmetrically placed to the edge of the substrate. The complete antenna without excitation is analyzed using characteristic mode theory to provide a physical insight into its circular polarization operation. The modal analysis proves that several nearly orthogonal modes can be generated at certain frequencies with 90° phase differences. The axial ratio (AR) corresponds to the modal analysis, which proves the validity of the modal analysis. An AR bandwidth from 3.2 to 6 GHz (61%) is achieved within an S11 bandwidth of 3.2–14 GHz (125%). The proposed antenna achieves a peak realized gain 4.3 dBi of within the AR band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a novel double-face logarithmic spiral metamaterial (LSMTM) superstrate-inspired multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) for fully enhanced circularly polarized (CP) antenna system is examined for 5G wireless communications. This novel double-face LSMTM superstrate acts as a planar concave-concave lens. Initially, the antenna is designed with a circular spiral patch to generate CP radiation in the frequency band of interest. Then, at a height of 6.5 mm (0.606 λo) above the MIMO antenna, which has a 0.8 mm (0.075 λo) edge-to-edge separation, the LSMTM superstrate is employed for isolation, gain, and bandwidth improvement. The proposed superstrate enhances the isolation, gain, and bandwidth of the antenna by about 32 dB, 3.47 dB, and 900 MHz, respectively. In contrast to the conventional technique of verifying operation with a simulated surface current distribution, characteristic mode analysis (CMA) is used to provide a better explanation of the proposed antenna's different modes and the creation of circular polarization. Additionally, the CMA supports the development of an effective technique that can predict whether or not the isolation can be further improved. The simulated results align with the measured results and are well adapted for 5G wireless communication devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consistent interpretation of modes is crucial in characteristic mode analysis, which can usually be achieved by mode tracking algorithms. However, the problem of the eigenvalue crossing avoidance is still challenging to solve completely. In this paper, the possible causes of the eigenvalue crossing avoidance are discussed, and divided into two types. According to the characteristics of the modes with the cross avoidance, a comprehensive method for locating the frequency of crossing avoidance is first proposed. Since the crossing avoidance occurs in the case of degenerate mode coupling, the decoupling method is applied to eliminate the mode cross avoidance. Finally, the method's effectiveness is verified by dealing with crossing avoidance problems of a rectangular conductor, dipole, and skewed plate structure. The proposed method is only related to the mode number to be discussed, and its calculation is time-saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a bandwidth enhanced high gain rectangular patch antenna operating under two similar spectrally close modes created from a TM50‐like mode in the vicinity of another higher order mode of the patch. The patch is embedded with two wide slots and meandered linkages are used to maintain current continuity. The whole structure is studied using the theory of characteristic modes and the excitation of these higher order modes is controlled to enhance the bandwidth. One of the two similar modes is very weakly excited and does not affect the antenna's performance. The beam tilting at lower frequencies are compensated by properly choosing the capacitors as phase shifter elements on the meander linkages. The antenna size is miniaturized by properly choosing the dimensions of the meander linkages and the resonant length is reduced by λ/2 as compared to that of a conventional TM50 mode supporting patch. The patch size becomes 3.35 × 4.03λ/2 instead of 5 × 5λ/2 (λ is the substrate wavelength). The coaxial probe fed structure exhibits a good performance of impedance bandwidth of 10.5% around the center frequency of 5.7 GHz with a gain variation 10–12 dBi, which appear to be better than other antennas of similar size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a reconfigurable metal rim antenna with a small clearance and compact structure for 4G/5G smartphones is proposed. It consists of the system ground plane and a metal rim with two slits, in which a U-shaped slot of 1 mm (the smallest) clearance is realized between the system ground and metal rim. The theory of characteristic modes is applied to analyze the eigenmodes of the antenna so as to aid the optimum design. The characteristic modes (CMs) in the band of interest are studied, and an inductive coupling exciter is identified as the best since three CMs can therefore be generated in the lower frequency band (0.69-0.96 GHz), and an SP4T switch can be utilized to increase the bandwidth of the whole lower band. A prototype antenna of the optimized design was fabricated. A good agreement was obtained between the measured and simulated results. The 6-dB frequency bands are the lower band (0.69-0.96 GHz), the middle band (1.7- 2.7 GHz), and the higher 5G band (3.4- 3.6 GHz), respectively, and the total efficiencies are over 50% in all these frequency bands. They indicate that the antenna is a very good candidate for smartphone applications.

In this paper, the analysis of an UWB monopole antenna using the Theory of Characteristic Modes is presented. It starts from the modal study of an asymmetric dipole (structure 1), and then complements and compares it with a broadband monopole (structure 2), aiming to understand the operation principle of the proposed antenna. To achieve this, the electromagnetic properties of the structures are analyzed through the generation of its characteristic angles, modal radiation patterns, characteristic currents, and the power contribution percentage of each mode to the total radiated power, providing a vision on how the superposition of individual characteristic modes enables UWB operation. The prototype model is fabricated, and the measured results agree very well with the full-wave simulations results. The proposed prototype has a very low profile and operates in the frequency band from 2.8 GHz to exceed 10 GHz for a reflection coefficient S11 less than -10dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]