Innovative application of metamaterials to improve radars
The work is the outcome of a two-year project and one million euros funded by the European Defence Agency. Researchers from France (Thales and the National Office for Aerospace Studies and Research), Germany (the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques FHR), Italy (University of Siena) and Spain (NUP/UPNA and Tafco Metawireless) participated in it.
The work of the NUP/UPNA focusses on the applying of metamaterials to smart phased array-type antennae. As Pablo Rodríguez-Ulibarri, author of the main contributions, pointed out, "we have managed to improve the shortcomings that existed when it comes to directing the beam of the antenna in different directions, the so-called blind zones in pointing.The most innovative contribution is that we have developed a radome (the coating that protects the antenna) based on metamaterials - metaradome - which is capable of improving the response of the so-called blind angles without modifying the prototype antenna in any way. It consists of a thin film designed following concepts inspired by metamaterials, which acts as if it were a lens and allows the beam of the antenna to behave much more efficiently compared with what has been achieved until now."
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