Full-polarization radar target feature modulation based on active polarization conversion metasurface

Abstract

Electromagnetic (EM) metasurfaces comprising artificially designed subwavelength unit cells have drawn considerable attention due to the EM properties beyond the limits of natural materials. As one of the representative structures, active polarization conversion metasurface (APCM) is switchable by loading active components. It provides great freedom to manipulate the polarization state of EM waves. However, the current research mainly focused on the application of communication and paid less attention to the radar effect of APCM. APCM redistributes electromagnetic wave energy in multi-polarization channels, so it will have great application potential in polarimetric radar. Herein, based on the fully polarimetric radar one-dimensional high resolution range profile, the radar effect of time-modulated metasurface is studied. For this purpose, a method of target scattering mechanisms manipulation and a polarization-insensitive structure of APCM are proposed. The amplitude-phase joint modulation method is specifically analyzed in detail. The distance transformation and virtual multi-target phenomena are further discovered. Virtual targets along the distance dimension are generated in multi-polarization channels, while the scattering mechanisms of k-order targets are effectively manipulated. The relationship between the target scattering matrix and the modulation parameters is obtained. It may provide an effective method for the application of active metasurface in fully polarimetric radars.