A Mechanically Rollable Reflectarray With Beam-Scanning Capabilities

Abstract

A novel 1-D beam-steerable reflectarray antenna (RA) is proposed for the K u -band. The RA aperture consists of 24×48 variable size square patch elements printed on a flexible plastic substrate. The aperture is wrapped around two cylinders to create a 12λ×12λ illumination window at the operating frequency of 14 GHz. Beam-steering is achieved by mechanically rolling the aperture. To mitigate antenna pattern degradation, an aperture phase distribution optimization technique is presented. The performance of this RA system is studied analytically using array theory. The effects of aperture size and unit-cell size are also discussed. The performance of the proposed RA is validated using simulations and measurements. The results illustrate that our design achieves 1-D beam-steering from -21 • to +21 • in the elevation plane while maintaining towards the broadside direction a maximum realized gain of 25.1 dBi. In this beamscanning range, the gain variation is less than 1.5 dB, beamwidth variation is less than 1.6 • , and the side lobe level is maintained below -15 dB. In summary, the main advantage of our design is its ability to steer its high gain beam without using complicated feed networks or complex mechanical systems. Such antennas are especially needed in SmallSat and space applications.

Design of a Single-layer C/X Dual-band Reflectarray Antenna with Low Cross-polarization

“…R ecently, reflectarray antenna has drawn much attention since it combines several advantages of both parabolic reflector antennas and planar arrays such as light weight, compact size, easy fabrication, and low cost [1][2][3][4]. A reflectarray antenna is mainly composed of a feed antenna, a bottom reflector, and an array of elements with specific sizes to compensate for spatial phase delays and then to form a planar wavefront over the aperture [5].…”

A Metasurface-Based Electronically Reconfigurable and Dual-Polarized Reflectarray Antenna for Beam-Steering Applications

“…This has led to the emerging of intriguing meta-devices and exploration of exotic physical phenomena, and enabling applications such as beam control and focusing lenses [3]. The versatility and potential of the RMTs drive innovative research in various fields, and has led to the study and development of reconfigurable reflectarray antennas (RRAs) [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. The RRAs combine the advantages of both parabolic reflectors and microstrip array antennas to overcome their limitations.…”

“…The RRAs overcome this limitation and enable dynamic EM wave manipulations. Different tuning mechanisms, such as mechanical movement [14,15], MEMS [16], liquid crystal [17,18], varactor diodes [13], and PIN diodes [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] provide reconfigurability by changing the unit cell's reflection phase [20]. Mechanical RRAs utilize servos, micro motors, or similar equipment to change the unit cell's EM responses.…”