Inflatable Metasurface Design for Microwave Reflection/Absorption and Infrared Camouflage

Menglin Zhai; Huiwu He; Rui Pei; Mark Leach; Eng Gee Lim; Zhao Wang; Jingchen Wang; Zhenzhen Jiang; Wen Yan Yin; Yi Huang

doi:10.1109/LMWT.2025.3568047

Inflatable Metasurface Design for Microwave Reflection/Absorption and Infrared Camouflage

Menglin Zhai, Huiwu He, Rui Pei^*, Mark Leach, Eng Gee Lim, Zhao Wang, Jingchen Wang, Zhenzhen Jiang, Wen Yan Yin, Yi Huang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article presents an inflatable ultralight dual-mode metasurface using conductive polyethylene (PE) film, conductive textile, and felt substrate. The metasurface integrates a 2.4-GHz square patch electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure with a movable PE film, affixed on a polyester (PET) layer positioned above the textile patch. When inflated, it functions as a reflective metasurface, achieving a 0° phase shift at 2.4 GHz and aiding heat dissipation for infrared camouflage. Experimental results show a 4-dB gain improvement with a monopole antenna. When deflated, the metasurface absorbs a maximum absorption of 99.78% at 2.4 GHz, maintaining 90% absorption from 2.34 to 2.46 GHz. These results confirm the versatility and efficacy of the proposed inflatable dual-mode metasurface in both reflective and absorptive states.

Original language	English
Journal	IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWT.2025.3568047
Publication status	Accepted/In press - 2025

Keywords

Absorption
inflatable
reconfigurable
reflection

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10.1109/LMWT.2025.3568047

Cite this

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title = "Inflatable Metasurface Design for Microwave Reflection/Absorption and Infrared Camouflage",

abstract = "This article presents an inflatable ultralight dual-mode metasurface using conductive polyethylene (PE) film, conductive textile, and felt substrate. The metasurface integrates a 2.4-GHz square patch electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure with a movable PE film, affixed on a polyester (PET) layer positioned above the textile patch. When inflated, it functions as a reflective metasurface, achieving a 0° phase shift at 2.4 GHz and aiding heat dissipation for infrared camouflage. Experimental results show a 4-dB gain improvement with a monopole antenna. When deflated, the metasurface absorbs a maximum absorption of 99.78% at 2.4 GHz, maintaining 90% absorption from 2.34 to 2.46 GHz. These results confirm the versatility and efficacy of the proposed inflatable dual-mode metasurface in both reflective and absorptive states.",

keywords = "Absorption, inflatable, reconfigurable, reflection",

author = "Menglin Zhai and Huiwu He and Rui Pei and Mark Leach and {Gee Lim}, Eng and Zhao Wang and Jingchen Wang and Zhenzhen Jiang and Yin, {Wen Yan} and Yi Huang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 IEEE.",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.1109/LMWT.2025.3568047",

language = "English",

journal = "IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters",

issn = "2771-957X",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Inflatable Metasurface Design for Microwave Reflection/Absorption and Infrared Camouflage

AU - Zhai, Menglin

AU - He, Huiwu

AU - Pei, Rui

AU - Leach, Mark

AU - Gee Lim, Eng

AU - Wang, Zhao

AU - Wang, Jingchen

AU - Jiang, Zhenzhen

AU - Yin, Wen Yan

AU - Huang, Yi

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This article presents an inflatable ultralight dual-mode metasurface using conductive polyethylene (PE) film, conductive textile, and felt substrate. The metasurface integrates a 2.4-GHz square patch electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure with a movable PE film, affixed on a polyester (PET) layer positioned above the textile patch. When inflated, it functions as a reflective metasurface, achieving a 0° phase shift at 2.4 GHz and aiding heat dissipation for infrared camouflage. Experimental results show a 4-dB gain improvement with a monopole antenna. When deflated, the metasurface absorbs a maximum absorption of 99.78% at 2.4 GHz, maintaining 90% absorption from 2.34 to 2.46 GHz. These results confirm the versatility and efficacy of the proposed inflatable dual-mode metasurface in both reflective and absorptive states.

AB - This article presents an inflatable ultralight dual-mode metasurface using conductive polyethylene (PE) film, conductive textile, and felt substrate. The metasurface integrates a 2.4-GHz square patch electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure with a movable PE film, affixed on a polyester (PET) layer positioned above the textile patch. When inflated, it functions as a reflective metasurface, achieving a 0° phase shift at 2.4 GHz and aiding heat dissipation for infrared camouflage. Experimental results show a 4-dB gain improvement with a monopole antenna. When deflated, the metasurface absorbs a maximum absorption of 99.78% at 2.4 GHz, maintaining 90% absorption from 2.34 to 2.46 GHz. These results confirm the versatility and efficacy of the proposed inflatable dual-mode metasurface in both reflective and absorptive states.

KW - Absorption

KW - inflatable

KW - reconfigurable

KW - reflection

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105005985716&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1109/LMWT.2025.3568047

DO - 10.1109/LMWT.2025.3568047

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:105005985716

SN - 2771-957X

JO - IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters

JF - IEEE Microwave and Wireless Technology Letters

ER -

Inflatable Metasurface Design for Microwave Reflection/Absorption and Infrared Camouflage

Abstract

Keywords

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