Wave-Manipulating Skins for Wide Angle Scanning Arrays - Recent Advances and Future Trends

The availability of inexpensive phased array technologies capable of supporting wide scanning angles with stable performance is of increasing interest for both communications and radar applications. Unfortunately, popular planar phased arrays usually suffer from scan blindness and limitations to the field-of-view (FoV) caused by the inter-element mutual coupling. In this framework, the possibility offered by passive static electromagnetic skins employed as "artificial proximity objects"(APOs) to stabilize the active element impedance has recently gathered a considerable attention with several different customization already demonstrated. The objective of this work is to review the most recent advances and current research trends in the design and implementation of APOs for wide-angle scanning arrays. © 2023 European Association for Antennas and Propagation.