Time-modulated active frequency selective surface absorber/reflector for spectrum conversion

Spectrum conversion involves the movement of a signal from one frequency to another, and it is well-studied in materials interacting with electromagnetic waves from microwave to optical frequencies. In this paper, a time-modulated active frequency selective surface (AFSS) absorber/reflector is proposed to manipulate the spectral distribution of the echo signal. The discrete harmonics based on the period modulation and the continuous spectrum based on the random coding modulation are analyzed in detail. In addition, a simple digital-coding control network based on field programmable gate array (FPGA) in the time-modulated AFSS absorber/reflector (TMAAR) is used to switch between absorbing and reflecting states flexibly. By coding “0” and “1” elements with the controlled sequences, the TMAAR is able to achieve the predefined modulation function for spectrum conversion. On this basis, a prototype of the designed TMAAR is manufactured. The linear frequency modulation radar echo experiments are performed to verify the required function of spectrum conversion.