Electric field imaging of a high impedance surface for GNSS array decoupling application

¹ Onera – The French Aerospace Lab, 31000 Toulouse, France
² CNES, Antenna Department, 31400 Toulouse, France
³ Universite de Toulouse UPS, INPT, CNRS LAPLACE, 31400 Toulouse, France

^a e-mail: daniel.prost@onera.fr

Received: 13 May 2015
Revised: 6 July 2015
Accepted: 18 August 2015
Published online: 11 September 2015

Abstract

An original method of characterization of high impedance surfaces (HIS) is presented to exhibit electric field patterns. The electric field frames are obtained through a resistive film located in the near field domain of the HIS. The film heating is recorded using an infrared camera and gives after post-processing electric field magnitude profiles. We applied this technique to a HIS specially tuned for reducing mutual coupling in a global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) array designed for the E5 Galileo band. The mushroom-like HIS, designed and realized with the help of simulation, is located near the ground plane of a micro-strip line which allows S parameter characterization. Present measurement enables near field characterization and field structure analysis, and is therefore a complement to usual analysis. Moreover, the technique shows the very special field structure, including sub-lambda details, created by the HIS and more generally by metamaterial structures.