An X-Band Leaky-Wave Dynamic Metasurface Antenna for Integrated Sensing and Communication

Abstract

The work demonstrates a dynamic metasurface antenna (DMA) that consists of hexagonal-shaped meta-atoms. The hexagonal-shaped meta-atoms are arranged in a diagonal fashion in the top layer of the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW). The SIW feeds an array of 32 such meta-atoms. By using p-i-n diodes, the radiation characteristic and the interaction with the propagating wave of each meta-atom are varied in two states. The DMA is capable of generating 7 distinct beam patterns by biasing the p-i-n diodes with the binary distributions obtained through holographic approximation. The DMA offers a wide beam coverage of 136° and an average gain of 6.3 dBi for all the binary distributions. Furthermore, the DMA demonstrates direction-of-arrival (DoA) detection for one or two simultaneous sources with an error as low as 1°. Full-wave simulations validate the design, highlighting its potential for integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) applications. © 2026 European Association of Antennas and Propagation.