Analysis of labyrinth-maze-shaped metamaterial for efficient airplane altimeter applications

Abstract

This paper proposes an analytical description of a unique labyrinth-maze-shaped metamaterial for electromagnetic noise reduction applications in airplane communications systems. The proposed metamaterial has shown a single negative value and negligible reflection coefficient near 5 GHz for FR4 as a dielectric spacer with any thickness. In airplanes, many antennas and radars are used at different frequencies, which sometimes may interfere with other frequencies transmitted from the ground. The proposed metamaterial can eliminate such EM interference at frequencies near 5 GHz. Moreover, the metamaterial has shown incident angle insensitivity up to 180 degrees phi and 80 degrees theta along with TE and TM mode of EM wave. With a solid copper ground, it can act as an absorber with absorptions at 4.12 GHz and 5.248 GHz, which may isolate the altimeter radar system of the airplane from external mid-band 5G frequencies and thus ensure smooth functioning of both the 5G mobile and the airplane altimeter communications systems.