On Changing the Phase of the Radiated Field from a Microstrip Patch Antenna Using a 3D-printed Conformal Metasurface

In this paper, a 3D-printed conformal metasurface was used to change the phase of the radiated field from a single microstrip patch antenna. The metasurface had 25 complementary split ring resonators (CSRR) and was placed in the radiating far-field of the patch antenna. The conformal metasurface was printed with flexible NinjaFlex (substrate) and Electrifi (conductors) filaments, and the phase shift of the radiated field was achieved by changing the curvature of the conformal metasurface. The proposed system was simulated in HFSS. Furthermore, a prototype was measured, and the results validated the simulation results. The radiation pattern was shown to shift by up to 20 degrees in response to the curved metasurface. This proposed approach could eventually be used to achieve beam steering by combining a conventional patch antenna and 3D-printed metasurfaces.