Microstrip reconfigurable reflectarray antennas (RRAs) have great potential for advanced systems including satellite communications and the 6th generation (6G) wireless mobile communication networks. However, as a type of microstrip antennas, RRAs generally exhibit an intrinsic issue of narrow bandwidths. This issue is further deteriorated by complicated structures for phase shifting and DC supplying in RRAs. PIN diodes have been used in recent works to control the phases of RRA elements. However, modelling them is still costly and time consuming. In this work, a simple but novel method for modelling PIN diode SMP-1340-040 is developed by using waveguides and modified simulation approaches. Based on the obtained model, a broadband 1-bit unit cell using only one substrate is also proposed, and it achieves a simulated bandwidth of 40.6% and 33.8% for linear and circular polarizations, respectively. The experimental results show an excellent agreement with the simulation, which confirms the accuracy of the proposed PIN diode model. Moreover, the performances of the unit cell demonstrate that it can be used for designing RRAs in bands X and Ku.
A broadband and multipolarized fully reconfigurable unit cell is designed and fabricated in this paper. The unit cell uses 4 diodes to create a phase shifter with single-bit control. It exhibits an excellent bandwidth of 40% for both dual linear and circular polarizations in the X and Ku bands using the structure of 4 patches, a proper PIN diode placement, and a DC bias. The reflection coefficients of the cross polarizations are less than –50 dB, ensuring high isolation between the two polarizations. The experiment results show an agreement with the simulation results.
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