Basic Principles of Fresnel Antenna Arrays

Antennas represent a critical technology in any of these wireless systems. Not only do they directly affect the received power of the system, they are also typically the largest and most visible part. Recently, the need for low-cost, low-profile, and lightweight antenna in the frequency range of the microwave/millimeter wave/THz band has regained momentum.

"Basic Principles of Fresnel Antenna Arrays" provides us a with the basics of the various Fresnel Antenna approaches, in order to achieve low-cost, low-profile, and lightweight antenna in the microwave/millimeter wave band. A potential solution of the antenna problem lies in using lens technology in an array. The Fresnel zone plate lens (FZPL) antenna is in particular an interesting candidate for the array element. The limiting focusing properties of FZPL including subwave length focus are described in detail. The book further presents a novel hexagonal FZPL antenna which can be more effectively packed in an array due to its shape.

Before considering the hexagonal FZPL antenna in an array, the authors investigate two ideas, described as methods to potentially improve the radiation characteristics. The first idea is to change the reference phase of the Fresnel zone radii - a novel free parameter in the usual design of zone plate’s lenses and antennas. To further improve the radiation characteristics of the hexagonal FZPL antenna, a technique involving Fresnel zone rotation is investigated.

The book is of interest for designers of optical systems because, taking scaling effects into account, the characteristics of diffractive quasioptical elements are valid for diffractive focusing elements of integrated optics.