1170 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 20, NO.

7, JULY 2021

A Compact Low-Profile Reconfigurable Metasurface

Antenna With Polarization and Pattern Diversities
Wentao Li , Member, IEEE, Yi Ming Wang , Yongqiang Hei , Bo Li, and Xiaowei Shi , Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—A compact low-profile reconfigurable metasurface Nevertheless, the complex feeding system led to its large size.
(MTS) antenna is presented in this letter, occupying an overall size In [9], a compact reconfigurable patch antenna was reported. By
of 0.65λ0 × 0.65λ0 × 0.067λ0 . The proposed antenna is mainly switching four p-i-n diodes, the pattern and polarization states
composed of a 3 × 3 square MTS, a ring-shaped pixel structure, a
square microstrip patch, a metal ground plane, and a simple feeding
were reconfigured. However, the use of four diagonal metal
network. Through the characteristic mode analysis, two orthogonal walls to realize the pattern reconfiguration is not beneficial to
degenerate modes are excited to realize the reconfigurable two the low-profile application.
linear polarizations and one circular polarization (CP). Further- Metasurface (MTS) has been demonstrated as a promising
more, by loading an annular pixel structure around the MTS, the candidate for the low-profile wideband antenna [10]–[15]. With
designed antenna can produce the steerable beam directions of the aid of the theory of characteristic modes (TCM) [16]–[18],
±40° with horizontal polarization, ±20° with vertical polarization, MTS offers a low-profile solution to improve the bandwidth by
and ±25° with CP in the yz plane. Due to the symmetry of the
layout, polarization and pattern diversities can also be realized in
mode manipulation. In [10] and [11], TCM was used to design
the xz plane. The proposed reconfigurable antenna is manufactured a single-layer and a double-layer low-profile MTS antenna,
and measured to demonstrate the proposed design. The measured respectively, but without reconfigurability. The dual-polarized
results show that the designed antenna acquires polarization and broadband low-profile MTS antennas were designed in [13] and
pattern diversities in C-band at the center frequency of 5 GHz, and [14]. In [15], a pentapolarization reconfigurable metamaterial
the test results generally are in consistent with the simulation ones, antenna with a profile of 0.06λ0 was reported. Noted that the
which demonstrates the superiority of the proposed antenna. three low-profile antennas mentioned above only have polar-
Index Terms—Low profile, metasurface (MTS) antenna, pattern ization diversity, without considering pattern reconfiguration,
reconfigurable, polarization reconfigurable. which limits their further applications.
In this letter, we propose a compact low-profile reconfigurable
I. INTRODUCTION MTS antenna. Through the characteristic mode analysis (CMA)
method, the operating modes of the combined structure of a
ECENTLY, polarization and pattern reconfigurable anten- microstrip patch and a 3 × 3 square MTS are analyzed. Two
R nas have attracted considerable attention from researchers
due to their advantages in increasing channel capacity, sup-
orthogonal degenerate modes are excited by a simple feeding
network, which realizes the antenna capable of switching among
pressing interference, and overcoming multipath fading [1]–[4]. the horizontal linear polarization (LP), vertical LP, and circular
Moreover, rather limited space restriction of future 5G terminals polarization (CP). Moreover, the designed antenna can produce
or platforms makes the compact low-profile antenna structure the steerable beam directions of ±40° with horizontal polariza-
more competitive [5], [6]. Although the multifunctional recon- tion (HP), ±20° with vertical polarization (VP), and ±25° with
figurable antenna can save size and cost, it is still a challenge CP in the yz plane by loading an annular pixel structure around
to simultaneously realize a compact low-profile polarization and the MTS. Owning to the symmetry structure of the antenna,
pattern reconfigurable antenna [7]. In [8], a novel reconfigurable polarization and pattern reconfigurable performances can also
patch antenna was proposed, which achieved the reconfigura- be realized in the xz plane. The proposed antenna, occupying an
bility of two polarization states and two pattern deflections. overall size of 0.65λ0 × 0.65λ0 × 0.067λ0 , is manufactured
and measured to demonstrate its superiority. Both measured
Manuscript received March 31, 2021; accepted April 15, 2021. Date of and simulated results show that the proposed antenna achieves
publication April 21, 2021; date of current version July 7, 2021. This work
was supported in part by National Nature Science Foundation under Grant polarization and pattern reconfigurability in C-band at the center
61876143, in part by National Science Key Laboratory Fund Project under Grant frequency of 5 GHz.
6142605190402, in part by the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China under
Grant 20200020081001, and in part by Fundamental Research Project under
Grant 173. (Corresponding author: Wentao Li.) II. DESIGN OF MTS ANTENNA
Wentao Li, Yi Ming Wang, and Xiaowei Shi are with the Science and Technol-
ogy on Antenna and Microwave Laboratory, Department of Electronic Engineer- A. Antenna Structure
ing, Xidian University, Xi’an 710071, China (e-mail: wtli@[Link];
wangyiming_xdu@[Link]; xwshixidian@[Link]). The configuration of the designed antenna is depicted in Fig. 1.
Yongqiang Hei is with the State Key Laboratory of ISN, Xidian University, The proposed antenna mainly consists of a 3 × 3 square MTS
Xi’an 710071, China (e-mail: yqhei@[Link]). layer surrounded by a ring-shaped pixel structure, a microstrip
Bo Li is with the State Key Laboratory of Meta-RF Electromagnetic Mod-
patch, a metal ground plane, and a simple feeding network. The
ulation Technology, Kuang-Chi Institute of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen
518057, China (e-mail: [Link]@[Link]). MTS and the ring-shaped pixel structure are printed on the top
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/LAWP.2021.3074639 layer of a 1.75 mm-thick F4BM-2 substrate (SUB-1) with the

1536-1225 © 2021 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See [Link] for more information.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE. Downloaded on July 02,2025 at [Link] UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LI et al.: COMPACT LOW-PROFILE RECONFIGURABLE METASURFACE ANTENNA WITH POLARIZATION AND PATTERN DIVERSITIES 1171

TABLE I
PARAMETERS OF THE ANTENNA (UNIT: mm)

TABLE II
SIMULATED AND MEASURED GAIN OF THE ANTENNA

TABLE III
COMPARISON OF KEY PERFORMANCE OF ANTENNAS

Fig. 2. Modal currents and corresponding modal radiation patterns of double-

layer structures.

relative dielectric constant of 2.65. Under the SUB-1, a substrate

Abl. of Rec.∗ = ability of reconfiguration; Pol.∗ = polarization; Pat.∗ = pattern. with the same specifications (SUB-2) is placed and a square
The bold entities in Table III are used to highlight the performance of the proposed microstrip patch is printed on it. The designed feeding network
antenna. is shown in Fig. 1(c), which is printed on the lower surface of the
F4BM-2 substrate with the thickness of 0.5 mm (SUB-3). The
SUB-3 is placed on the bottom of the antenna, and the microstrip
patch is connected to the feeding network through the metallized
vias. Note that the coaxial probes instead of metallized vias are
employed in CMA. The parameters of the designed antenna are
listed in Table I.

B. Operation Mechanism
From the article presented in [15], we know that any polar-
ization can be realized by controlling the excitation amplitude
and phase of the two ports of the dual-LP antenna. In this
section, TCM is used to analyze the combined structure of MTS
and microstrip patch, attempting to design a wideband dual-LP
antenna with simple feeding.
By using a generalized eigenvalue equation, CMA can be
expressed as [19]
XJ n = λn RJ n (1)
where λn is the nth eigenvalue, and Jn is the corresponding
eigenvector. R and X are the real and the imaginary parts of the
impedance matrix Z, respectively.
In order to explore the coupling mechanism between the MTS
and the microstrip antenna, CST microwave studio is employed
to analyze the characteristic mode of the double-layer MTS
antenna. The MTS antenna is analyzed by a multilayer solver,
and the results corresponding to the first six modes J n (n = 1,
2, …, 6) are shown in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 2, the designed
Fig. 1. Structure of the MTS antenna. (a) Three-dimensional view. (b) Top antenna supports two broadside radiating modes, i.e., HP and
view. (c) Bottom view.
VP, which are both synthesized by the characteristic mode of the

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE. Downloaded on July 02,2025 at [Link] UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 1172 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 20, NO. 7, JULY 2021

Fig. 3. Detailed difference between the (a) TM03 mode and (b) e-TM03 mode.

Fig. 5. Feeding point position of (a) Port1 and (b) Port2. Current distributions
Fig. 4. MSs of double-layer structures. after excitation of (c) Port1 and (d) Port2.

driving patch and the MTS. From the perspective of MTS, two in Fig. 5. It can be seen that the current distributions of the
extraordinary third-order modes, i.e., J 1 and J 2 , are supported. designed antenna after excitation are basically the same as the
For convenience, we let (J 1 and J 2 ) denote the (e-TM03 and mode current obtained from the CMA, except that the current
e-TM30 ) mode pair, where “e” represents the extraordinary. intensity at the feed point is a bit large, which indicates that the
Fig. 3 shows the detailed difference between the TM03 mode required modes of the designed antenna are successfully excited.
and e-TM03 mode. Different from the ordinary third-order mode,
i.e., the TM03 in Fig. 3(a), the current distribution of J 1 and J 2 C. Realization of Reconfigurability
on the MTS is in phase [see Fig. 3(b)]. Noted that modes (J 3 , To obtain the reconfigurable polarization, it is essential to
J 4 , J 5 , and J 6 ) are those unwanted modes. design a feeding network to control the amplitude and phase
To evaluate the coupling ability of each mode under the of the two linear polarized components. The designed feeding
external source, the classical metric, i.e., modal significance network is shown in Fig. 1(c), and it is composed of two “OR”
(MS) is employed and defined as circuits and a 3 dB power divider. Eight p-i-n diodes divide the
 
 1  feeding network into three working states. When PIN2, PIN4,
MS =  . (2)
1 + jλn  and PIN7 are in the ON state and the other diodes are turned OFF,
the feeding network works at State I; thus, only Port 1 is excited
Fig. 4 shows the MS curves of modes corresponding to J 1 –J 6 and the HP is achieved. On the other hand, when PIN2, PIN6,
within 4–6 GHz band. It can be seen that the MS values of the first and PIN8 are turned ON and the other diodes are in the OFF state,
two modes (J 1 and J 2 ) are greater than 0.7 (the approximate the feeding network works at State II, as a result only Port 2 is
threshold value of the half-power bandwidth) in the frequency excited and the VP is achieved. Finally, when PIN1, PIN3, and
band over 700 MHz, which demonstrates that J 1 and J 2 can PIN5 are turned ON and the others are turned OFF, the feeding
possess a wide bandwidth. Especially, at about 5 GHz, both MSs network works at State III so that both Port 1 and Port 2 are
of J 1 and J 2 reach 1, close to the resonance state. In addition, excited, and the phase difference is 90°. In that case, the antenna
the maximum radiation patterns generated by J 1 and J 2 occur works in CP.
along the z-direction with their corresponding field polarizations On the basis of the reconfigurable polarization, the ring-
along the x-axis and y-axis, respectively. Hence, J 1 and J 2 are shaped pixel structure is introduced to realize the reconfiguration
selected and excited to realize the design of a dual-LP antenna. of the radiation pattern. By controlling the states of the PIN
According to the coupling mechanism of the electromagnetic diodes on different sides, the structure can selectively change
power, feeding structures can be mainly divided into inductive the radiation patterns of the antenna. Side A–Side D, as shown
coupling element and capacitive coupling element based ex- in Fig. 1(a), are the four directions of pattern deflection. When
citations. Since the probe feeding employed in the design is the diodes on Side A are all in the ON state, the pixel ring has
equivalent to the capacitive coupling excitation structure, it has a complete conductive structure, leading to a reflection on the
to be placed in the position with the largest near-field electric radiation pattern. If the diodes on Side B are all in the OFF state,
field distribution. For convenience, the feeding point positions at this moment, the pixel ring on that side can couple with the
and the antenna current response after the excitation are shown central MTS, yielding a directing effect on the radiation pattern.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE. Downloaded on July 02,2025 at [Link] UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LI et al.: COMPACT LOW-PROFILE RECONFIGURABLE METASURFACE ANTENNA WITH POLARIZATION AND PATTERN DIVERSITIES 1173

Fig. 6. (a) Photograph of antenna. (b) DC blocker. (c) Measured setup.

Fig. 8. Simulated and measured pattern in the yz plane. (a) HP. (b) VP.
(c) CP.

Fig. 7. Simulated and measured S11 and axial ratio (AR). is 21% (HP), 22% (VP), and 30% (CP). The corresponding
measured results are 16% (HP), 18% (VP), and 27% (CP),
respectively. The simulated and measured radiation patterns
Therefore, when the diodes on Side B are disconnected because at different reconfiguration states of the antenna are shown in
of the reflection effect on Side A, the radiation pattern of the Fig. 8. Table II lists the simulated and measured gain of the
antenna can still be deflected to Side B as a whole. On the antenna. The deflection of the radiation patterns has reached
contrary, the radiation pattern will be deflected to Side A, thereby the satisfactory level. The measured gain is about 1 dB lower
realizing the pattern reconfiguration in the yz plane. When the than the simulated ones, which is mainly caused by the loss of
diodes on Side C and Side D work, i.e., the antenna pattern diode and cable. Due to the errors in the assembly process, there
is deflected in the xz plane, the polarization of the antenna exists a certain difference between the simulated results and
will change accordingly. Noted that, in order to achieve the the measured results. Nevertheless, test results are generally in
pattern reconfiguration in one direction, the diodes in the other consistent with the simulation ones.
direction have to be in the ON state. Considering that the current Furthermore, in order to validate the advantage of the designed
distribution of each polarization state is not the same, different MTS antenna, Table III lists the results of the designed antenna
radiation patterns can be generated. In that way, the pattern in comparison with the previously reported reconfigurable or
deflections of ±40° with HP, ±20° with VP, and ±25° with CP MTS antennas in terms of the reconfigurability, the number
in the yz plane are realized. Due to the symmetry of the antenna, of polarizations, the sizes, and the profiles. It can be seen that
polarization and pattern diversities can also be achieved in the the proposed antenna owns a good balance of the overall size
xz plane. and functionality. Finally, the reconfigurable MTS antenna with
polarization and pattern diversities is achieved simultaneously
III. SIMULATED AND MEASURED RESULTS with a compact size and a low profile.
The MTS layer, the microstrip patch layer, and the feeding
network layer are mounted in the order of top, middle, and IV. CONCLUSION
bottom with nylon screws and nuts. Conductive wires are used A compact low-profile polarization and pattern reconfigurable
to apply dc voltage on the two ends of the diode to control MTS antenna has been proposed in this letter. The integrated
the reconfigurable state. No dc blocking circuit is specifically structure of a microstrip patch and a 3 × 3 square MTS has been
designed in the antenna since the dc blocker is used in the analyzed by a CMA method, and the introduction of the feeding
measurement. The photograph of the proposed antenna is shown network has enabled the antenna capable to switch among three
in Fig. 6. polarization states. Furthermore, by loading a ring-shaped pixel
The scattering parameters of the antenna are measured and structure around the MTS, the pattern reconfigurability of the
compared, as shown in Fig. 7, with its simulated results. Due proposed antenna has been realized. Finally, the proposed an-
to the symmetry of the ring-shaped pixel structure, the results tenna is manufactured and measured, and its reconfigurability
in the yz plane and xz plane are similar. Therefore, only the of polarization and pattern has been demonstrated. The merit
simulated and measured results in the yz plane are analyzed. As of compact size, low profile, and multifunctional reconfigurable
can be seen, the impedance bandwidth of the three polarization performance enables the designed antenna to become a compet-
states with 5 GHz as the center frequency in the simulation itive candidate for modern wireless communication systems.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE. Downloaded on July 02,2025 at [Link] UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 1174 IEEE ANTENNAS AND WIRELESS PROPAGATION LETTERS, VOL. 20, NO. 7, JULY 2021

REFERENCES [12] S. Liu, D. Yang, and J. Pan, “A low-profile circularly polarized metasur-
face antenna with wide axial-ratio beamwidth,” IEEE Antennas Wireless
[1] P.-Y. Qin, Y. J. Guo, and C. Ding, “A dual-band polarization reconfigurable Propag. Lett., vol. 18, no. 7, pp. 1438–1442, Jul. 2019.
antenna for WLAN systems,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 61, [13] S. X. Ta, M. D. Nguyen, T. H.-Y. Nguyen, T. K. Nguyen, K. K. Nguyen,
no. 11, pp. 5706–5713, Nov. 2013. and C. Dao-Ngoc, “A low-profile ±45° dual-polarized antenna based on
[2] S.-L. Chen, F. Wei, P.-Y. Qin, Y. J. Guo, and X. Chen, “A multi-linear metasurface and its arrays for base station applications,” J. Electromagn.
polarization reconfigurable unidirectional patch antenna,” IEEE Trans. Waves Appl., vol. 32, no. 14, pp. 1748–1767, Apr. 2018.
Antennas Propag., vol. 65, no. 8, pp. 4299–4304, Aug. 2017. [14] G. Liu, X. Sun, X. Chen, D. Xiong, M. Li, and M.-C. Tang, “A broadband
[3] Y. Zhang et al., “Wideband pattern- and polarization-reconfigurable an- low-profile dual-linearly polarized dipole-driven metasurface antenna,”
tenna based on bistable composite cylindrical shells,” IEEE Access, vol. 8, IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 1759–1763,
pp. 66777–66787, 2020. Oct. 2020.
[4] Y. Zheng and S. Yan, “A low-profile half-mode annular microstrip antenna [15] P. Liu, W. Jiang, S. Sun, Y. Xi, and S. Gong, “Broadband and low-profile
with pattern diversity,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 19, penta-polarization reconfigurable metamaterial antenna,” IEEE Access,
no. 10, pp. 1739–1743, Oct. 2020. vol. 8, pp. 21823–21831, 2020.
[5] W. Liu, Z. N. Chen, and X. Qing, “Metamaterial-based low-profile broad- [16] R. Harrington and J. Mautz, “Theory of characteristic modes for con-
band mushroom antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 62, no. 3, ducting bodies,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. AP-19, no. 5,
pp. 1165–1172, Mar. 2014. pp. 622–628, Sep. 1971.
[6] H. Zhai, L. Xi, Y. Zhang, and L. Li, “A low-profile dual-polarized high- [17] M. Cabedo-Fabres, E. Antonino-Daviu, A. Valero-Nogueira, and M. F.
isolation MIMO antenna arrays for wideband base-station applications,” Bataller, “The theory of characteristic modes revisited: A contribution to
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 191–202, Jan. 2018. the design of antennas for modern applications,” IEEE Antennas Propag.
[7] K.-L. Wong, Compact and Broadband Microstrip Antennas. New York, Mag., vol. 49, no. 5, pp. 52–68, Oct. 2007.
NY, USA: Wiley, 2006. [18] R. Martens and D. Manteuffel, “Systematic design method of a mobile
[8] Z. Li, D. Rodrigo, L. Jofre, and B. A. Cetiner, “A new class of antenna array multiple antenna system using the theory of characteristic modes,” Mi-
with a reconfigurable element factor,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., crow., Antennas Propag., vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 887–893, Sep. 2014.
vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 1947–1955, Apr. 2013. [19] Y. Chen and C.-F. Wang, Characteristic Modes: Theory and Applications
[9] C. Gu et al., “Compact smart antenna with electronic beam-switching in Antenna Engineering. New York, NY, USA: Wiley, 2015.
and reconfigurable polarizations,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 63, [20] S. Zhang, G. H. Huff, J. Feng, and J. T. Bernhard, “A pattern reconfigurable
no. 12, pp. 5325–5333, Dec. 2015. microstrip parasitic array,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 52, no. 10,
[10] Z. Liang, J. Ouyang, and F. Yang, “Low-profile wideband circularly pp. 2773–2776, Oct. 2004.
polarised single-layer metasurface antenna,” Electron. Lett., vol. 54, no. 24,
pp. 1362–1364, Nov. 2018.
[11] Z. Liang, J. Ouyang, and F. Yang, “Design and characteristic mode
analysis of a low-profile wideband patch antenna using metasurface,” J.
Electromagn. Waves Appl., vol. 32, pp. 2304–2313, Aug. 2018.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE. Downloaded on July 02,2025 at [Link] UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.