Tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device for radar sensing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11024977-B2
Application number	US-201816612195-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 15, 2018
Priority date	May 19, 2017
Publication date	Jun 1, 2021
Grant date	Jun 1, 2021

Abstract

A tunable dielectric metamaterial device for radar sensing comprises at least one metamaterial layer a plurality of electrically conductive electrodes and a plurality of electrically conductive control lines. The metamaterial layer includes a plurality of dielectric resonators comprising tunable material, wherein at least one electromagnetic property of the tunable material varies with an externally controllable electric field applied to it. Two distinct electrically conductive electrodes each are arranged in a spaced manner at any one of the dielectric resonators to cover the dielectric resonator. The electrically conductive control lines are configured for controlling the electric field to be applied to the tunable material, wherein each electrically conductive line is electrically connected to an electrically conductive electrode. For at least two dielectric resonators, the electrically conductive electrodes that are arranged in the same layer to cover the at least two dielectric resonators are distinct from each other.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device for radar sensing, comprising:
at least one metamaterial layer including a plurality of dielectric resonators arranged in parallel, each dielectric resonator comprising tunable material, wherein at least one electromagnetic property of the tunable material varies with an externally controllable electric field applied to it,
a plurality of electrically conductive electrodes, wherein two distinct electrically conductive electrodes of the plurality of electrically conductive electrodes are arranged at any dielectric resonator of the plurality of dielectric resonators, the two distinct electrically conductive electrodes are arranged in a spaced manner in a direction perpendicular to the metamaterial layer in at least two different layers to at least partially cover the dielectric resonator in this direction,
a plurality of electrically conductive control lines that is configured for controlling the electric field to be applied to the tunable material, wherein each electrically conductive line is electrically connected to an electrically conductive electrode of the plurality of electrically conductive electrodes for controlling the externally controllable electric field,
wherein for at least two dielectric resonators of the plurality of dielectric resonators the electrically conductive electrodes that are arranged in the same layer to cover the at least two dielectric resonators are distinct from each other.

2. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one electrically conductive electrode of the plurality of electrically conductive electrodes covers a sub-quantity of the plurality of dielectric resonators, and the dielectric resonators of the sub-quantity of dielectric resonators are juxtaposed in a direction parallel to the metamaterial layer, and wherein the at least one electrically conductive electrode that covers the sub-quantity of dielectric resonators is distinct from the rest of the plurality of electrically conductive electrodes arranged in the same layer.

3. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein in one layer of the at least two different layers, each dielectric resonator of the plurality of dielectric resonators is covered by a different electrically conductive electrode of the plurality of electrically conductive electrodes.

4. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dielectric resonators of the plurality of dielectric resonators are equidistantly spaced in at least one direction parallel to the metamaterial layer.

5. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dielectric resonators of the plurality of dielectric resonators are arranged to form an array, wherein the dielectric resonators are equidistantly spaced in at least two orthogonal directions that are disposed parallel to the metamaterial layer.

6. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the dielectric resonators of the plurality of dielectric resonators are arranged to form an array of a size of 10×10 to 50×50 dielectric resonators.

7. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive control lines of the plurality of electrically conductive control lines run outside any spatial region that is virtually confined by a cross-sectional area of dielectric resonators of the plurality of dielectric resonators in a sectional plane that is aligned parallel to the metamaterial layer, and that extends in a direction perpendicular to the metamaterial layer.

8. The tunable dielectric metamaterial device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the dielectric resonators of the plurality of dielectric resonators have a cross-section, in a sectional plane aligned parallel to the metamaterial layer, that has an elliptical shape.

9. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the tunable material of the dielectric resonators comprises a ferroelectric material.

10. The tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each of the electrically conductive electrodes of the plurality of electrically conductive electrodes has a sheet resistance lying in a range between 0.5 MΩ/sq and 50 MΩ/sq.

11. A radar device for use in automotive applications, comprising
at least one radar chip including at least one transmit antenna member that is configured for transmitting radar waves and at least one receive antenna member that is configured for receiving radar waves,
a tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device as claimed in claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one transmit antenna member is configured to transmit the radar waves through the metamaterial layer and the at least one receive antenna member is configured to receive the radar waves through the metamaterial layer, and wherein a distance between the antenna members and the metamaterial layer is equal to a focal length of the tunable dielectric metamaterial device within predefined limits.

12. The radar device as claimed in claim 11 , further comprising a closed housing surrounding and supporting the at least one radar chip and the tunable dielectric metamaterial device, wherein a portion of the closed housing facing the at least one antenna member comprises at least one radome layer.

13. The radar device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the at least one radome layer has at least one curved surface of cylindrical or spherical shape or is formed as a surface of an aspheric lens.

14. The radar device as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the tunable dielectric metamaterial lens device and the at least one radome layer are arranged to form a sandwich structure.

Assignees

• Iee Sa

Inventors

• Olk Andreas
• Spielmann Thiemo

Classifications

• G01S13/931

  of land vehicles · CPC title

• H01Q15/0066 Primary

  said selective devices being reconfigurable, tunable or controllable, e.g. using switches · CPC title

• H01Q3/46

  Active lenses or reflecting arrays · CPC title

• G01S7/032

  Constructional details for solid-state radar subsystems · CPC title

• H01Q15/0086

  said selective devices having materials with a synthesized negative refractive index, e.g. metamaterials or left-handed materials · CPC title