Design and Applications of a Low-Cost Phase-Amplitude Reconfigurable Array Antenna

In this paper, we propose a low-cost reconfigurable 8*8 array antenna that allows simultaneous and independent control of phase and amplitude. Each element in the array is embedded with two groups of PIN diodes, enabling 2-bit phase shift and continuous amplitude control (0.2-1) at the operating frequency by applying different bias voltages. Besides, the array antenna realizes element-level control, enabling greater flexibility and enhanced two-dimensional capability for electromagnetic wave manipulation. The proposed array antenna is subsequently applied in the near-field multi-mode OAM generation, far-field complex beamforming, and wireless communications. The experimental results fully demonstrate the excellent performance of the phase-amplitude reconfigurable array antenna (PARRA).