Low‐Cost 2‐D Multibeam Transmitarray With Enhanced Beam Coverage Using Sliding Effective Aperture

ABSTRACT To address the spectrum shortage in fifth‐generation (5G) and future communication systems, multibeam antenna is a hotspot in recent years. 2‐D multibeam antennas usually have limited coverage range and with high dielectric loss and cost. This letter proposes a low‐cost 2‐D multibeam transmitarray (TA) using the method of sliding effective aperture. By sliding the feeding source, the effective aperture slides accordingly. Different sources represent producing different equiphase planes and thus achieving multiple beams. For improved beamforming effect and transmission efficiency, a wide‐beam 2 × 2 patch array serving as the feeding source and a four‐layer Jerusalem cross slot acting as the TA unit cell with a 360° phase range are designed. Finally, a full‐metal 2‐D TA measuring 219.6 × 219.6 mm 2 is fabricated and measured. The proposed square TA can achieve a continuous beam converge of ± 41° in θ direction and ± 180° in φ direction, with the peak gains of 19.8–24.7 dBi. The measured results are in good agreement with the simulated ones. Compared with other multibeam antennas, the proposed square TA realizes high gain beam scanning and low manufacturing cost, which has great application prospects in modern communication system.