Design of millimeter wave microstrip reflectarrays

This paper discusses the theoretical modeling and practical design of millimeter wave reflectarrays using microstrip patch elements of variable size. A full-wave treatment of plane wave reflection from a uniform infinite array of microstrip patches is described and used to generate the required patch-design data and to calculate the radiation patterns of the reflectarray. The critical parameters of millimeter wave reflectarray design, such as aperture efficiency, phase errors, losses, and bandwidth are also discussed. Several reflectarray feeding techniques are described, and measurements from four reflectarray design examples at 28 and 77 GHz are presented     

基于时域调制反射阵列的波束赋形技术

传统的反射阵利用相控器件与微带线实现波束赋形。为了降低相控成本与系统复杂度,提出基于时域调制阵列波束赋形技术。时域调制反射阵列是一种基于简单可重构反射单元的反射阵,它利用控制可重构反射单元的开与关,达到控制阵列输出,实现旁瓣抑制、波束赋形等功能。通过理论推导及仿真,结果表明,时域调制反射阵可以在不采用传统阵列中的相控器件及馈电网络的前提下,采用最小方差无失真响应波束赋形方法与时间调制法,生成理想的方向图,实现波束赋形功能。此特性将有利于推广波束赋形技术在毫米波频段反射阵的应用。     

Design of two-layer printed reflectarrays using patches of variablesize

A multilayer reflectarray composed of two stacked arrays with rectangular patches of variable size is demonstrated. A progressive phase distribution on the reflector surface is achieved by adjusting the dimensions of the patches. The phase of the reflection coefficient at each element is computed by the method of moments in the spectral domain, assuming local periodicity. A technique is presented for the design of dual polarization reflectarrays that yields all the dimensions for the photo-etching mask. A prototype has been design, built and measured, and a superior bandwidth performance has been verified, compared to conventional single layer reflectarrays     

Broadband reflectarray with combination of cross and rectangle loop elements

A reflectarray antenna composed of a combination of cross and rectangle loops of variable size printed on a conductor-backed substrate is presented. Using this type of cell element, a wideband, single-layer reflectarray is fabricated and measured. The bandwidth performance of this reflectarray is comparable to the previously reported best figures for reflectarrays using stacked-patch cell elements. Measured results demonstrate a radiation efficiency close to 60% and a 1 dB gain bandwidth of 24%, centred at Ku-band.     

微带反射阵天线的分析与设计

介绍了微带反射阵天线的基本原理,分析了天线设计中阵元单元尺寸和间隔的计算、相位延迟线的选择、基片厚度的选取、误差分析、仿真验证等,根据分析结果提出了低副瓣微带反射阵天线的设计方法。实例测试结果表明,反射阵天线的总体性能接近抛物面天线的性能,易于折叠、携带方便。     

一体化馈源大角度扫描折叠式反射阵列天线

卫星通讯服务的快速增长催生了对于“动中通”设备旺盛的需求.由于具有低剖面、加工方便、功能实现多样等特点, 折叠式反射阵列具有应用于“动中通”系统的巨大潜力.针对这一应用需求, 提出了一种具有大角度扫描能力的折叠式反射阵列设计方案, 基于多层印刷电路板(Printed Circuit Board, PCB)技术,设计了一种工作在C波段可用于折叠式反射阵列具有60°扫描能力的微带缝隙单元, 利用该单元设计了0°、45°和60°波束指向的固定波束折叠式反射阵列.此外, 使用阵列馈源替代传统喇叭馈源, 完成了馈源与主反射面的一体化设计, 实现了折叠式反射阵列天线结构的平面化.固定波束折叠式反射阵列的仿真和实测结果表明在4.85~5.15 GHz的频率范围内, 阵列具有60°波束扫描的能力.     

Design of a dual frequency reflectarray using microstrip stackedpatches of variable size

A new stacked microstrip reflectarray, based on patches of variable size, is proposed for dual frequency operation. A progressive phase distribution is achieved for the reflected wave at both frequencies by adjusting the resonant length of the patches in each elementary cell of the reflectarray     

Reflectarray element using variable ring with slot on ground plane

A novel structure using a variable microstrip ring with a slot ring on part of the ground plane is proposed as an auxiliary unit cell in a reflectarray. A progressive phase range larger than 682° has been achieved by changing the sizes of the microstrip rings and adding slot rings on part of the ground plane. A K-band reflectarray has been fabricated and shows very good performance.     

Wideband reflectarrays using artificial impedance surfaces

The gain bandwidth of a microstrip reflectarray can be substantially improved by replacing the usual layer of near-resonant patches with a simple artificial impedance surface consisting of closely spaced electrically small patches on a grounded dielectric substrate. It is shown that this approach can lead to reflectarray gain bandwidths (1 dB) in excess of 20% with a single layer of printed elements     

Three-layer printed reflectarrays for contoured beam space applications

A procedure for designing contoured beam reflectarrays in a defined frequency band is proposed. The reflectarray consists of three layers of rectangular patch arrays backed by a ground plane. The phase of the reflection coefficient for both linear polarizations is controlled at each reflective element by adjusting the patch dimensions. To overcome the frequency band limitation of reflectarrays, the patch dimensions are adjusted to match the required phase distribution and its variation with frequency. A phase-only synthesis technique based on the intersection approach has been applied to obtain the phase distribution on the reflectarray surface. An experimental demonstration is presented by means of a medium-size two-layer reflectarray that radiates two pencil beams separated by 55/spl deg/. An 80-cm three-layer reflectarray has been designed for typical South America DBS coverage at Ku-band for dual polarization. After the optimization of the patch dimensions to match the phase distribution in the 12.8-14.2 GHz band significant improvements have been achieved in the contoured patterns. As a result, the theoretical radiation patterns practically fulfill the requirements in the coverage region within a 10% bandwidth.     

基于两种单元贴片的毫米波平面反射阵列天线

针对单层介质单一贴片很难实现360°全域相位变化,文中提出了一种拥有环形贴片和环圆混合型贴片两种贴片组合结构的毫米波平面反射阵列天线,这种结构可以实现更为平滑的360°相位变化.利用这项技术,设计和分析了频率为94GHz的单层毫米波微带平面反射阵列天线,仿真计算验证了该方案的可行性.     

Broadband reflectarray antenna with double cross loops

A reflectarray antenna composed of double crossed loops of variable lengths printed on a conductor backed substrate is introduced. Using this technique, a single-layer reflectarray with wider bandwidth compared to conventional single-layer reflectarrays is fabricated and measured. Measured results demonstrate a radiation efficiency close to 55% and 1 dB gain-bandwidth of 10%, centred at 22 GHz.     

A dual planar reflectarray with synthesized phase and amplitude distribution

A quasi-planar reflector arrangement for generating an arbitrary phase and amplitude distribution in the antenna aperture and thus a wide range of far field patterns is presented. A parallel pair of reflectarrays is used. One is implemented as a standard reflectarray using rectangular patches on a microwave substrate with metallized backside. The other reflectarray is provided with a polarizing grid, which acts as a ground plane for one polarization and is transparent for the orthogonal polarization. An offset rectangular feed horn is embedded in the lower reflectarray to illuminate the upper reflector. A design procedure for a linear polarized antenna with a sector beam in the azimuth and a narrow beam width in the elevation is presented and is verified with measurement results.     

Modeling and Design of Electronically Tunable Reflectarrays

The reflectarray has significant promise in applications requiring high-gain, low-profile reflectors. Recent advances in tuning technology have raised the possibility of realizing electronically tunable reflectarrays, which can dynamically adjust their radiation patterns. This paper presents an electronically tunable reflectarray based on elements tuned using varactor diodes. Modeling approaches based on an equivalent circuit representation and computational electromagnetics simulations are presented. Both techniques accurately predict the scattering characteristics of the unit cell as compared to experimental measurements. The development of a unit cell with over 320^omicron of phase agility at 5.5 GHz is discussed. Finally, a 70-element electronically tunable reflectarray prototype operating at 5.8 GHz is presented. Radiation pattern measurements with the reflectarray demonstrate its dynamic beam-forming characteristics. Measurements of the gain of the reflectarray correlate well with theoretical expectations.     

Hat-shaped patches for line-source-fed microstrip reflectarray

New hat-shaped patch geometries are utilised in combination with rectangular patches in the modelling of a line-source-fed single layer microstrip reflectarray. These multiple patch geometries, implemented in the patch array for enhanced performance, are examined and compared with rectangular patches     

Novel Broadband Reflectarray Antenna with Two-Type Elements for Millimeter-Wave Application

A novel broadband millimeter-wave microstrip reflectarray antenna with square-annular patches and combined patches has been presented, aiming to solve the problem of how to obtain a full 360° range of phase shifts for single-layer. The choice of these two-type elements can make the phase shift smoother and increased up to 360°, leading to broader bandwidth. Based on this technique, a single-layer microstrip reflectarray antenna operating at 94 GHz has been designed. The computed results demonstrate the agreement of the main beam steering with the design requirement, and a 1-dB gain bandwidth close to 10% is obtained. The simulation results verify the feasibility of this design.     

A C/ka dual frequency dual Layer circularly polarized reflectarray antenna with microstrip ring elements

This paper reports a dual frequency dual layer circularly polarized reflectarray operating in the C and Ka bands. A 0.5-m right-hand circularly polarized planar reflectarray antenna is designed using microstrip ring elements of variable rotations to achieve a cophasal beam at broadside. The microstrip ring elements are more compact than the traditional reflectarray elements and can minimize blockage for the multilayer multifrequency applications. The highest efficiencies measured are 46% at 7.3 GHz and 38% at 31.75 GHz. The tested cross-polarization levels are -21 dB at 7.3 GHz and -29.2 dB at 31.75 GHz at the broadside direction. The tested results show that the designed ring element is suitable for both the single and dual layer applications with good bandwidth and circularly polarized performance.     

Investigations into a power-combining structure using areflectarray of dual-feed aperture-coupled microstrip patchantennas

This paper details an investigation of a power combiner that uses a reflectarray of dual-feed aperture-coupled microstrip patch antennas and a corporate-fed dual-polarized array as a signal distributing/combining device. In this configuration, elements of the reflectarray receive a linearly polarized wave and retransmit it with an orthogonal polarization using variable-length sections of microstrip lines connecting receive and transmit ports. By applying appropriate lengths of these delay lines, the array focuses the transmitted wave onto the feed array. The operation of the combiner is investigated for a small-size circular reflectarray for the cases of -3 dB, -6 dB and -10 dB edge illumination by the 2×2-element dual-polarized array     

Demonstration of a Shaped Beam Reflectarray Using Aperture-Coupled Delay Lines for LMDS Central Station Antenna

A shaped-beam reflectarray based on patches, aperture-coupled to delay lines is demonstrated for local multipoint distribution system (LMDS) central station antennas, in the 10.10-10.70 GHz band. The antenna must cover a 60^deg-sector in azimuth with a squared cosecant pattern in elevation. The design process consists of two steps. First, a phase-only pattern synthesis technique is applied to obtain the required phase-shift distribution on the reflectarray surface which generates the shaped pattern. The second stage consists of determining the length of the delay lines, aperture-coupled to the square patches, in order to achieve the phase distribution synthesized in the previous step. Two reflectarray antennas have been designed, one for vertical (V) and the other for horizontal (H) polarization. A breadboard for V-polarization has been manufactured and tested in an anechoic chamber, showing a good agreement between theoretical and measured radiation patterns.     

双频宽带大型微带反射阵天线设计

微带反射阵天线在性能上最主要的缺陷就是窄带,一般情况下其带宽小于5%,对电大口径短焦距馈电时更窄。本文设计并制作出一种由L波段和C波段两个反射面天线组成的6m×2m薄膜双频微带反射阵天线,两个频段的天线共用一层膜面。对该天线的电性能进行了测试,测试结果表明:该天线两个频段的相对带宽均大于10%(副瓣电平≤-18dB)。该天线具有折叠、可展开的结构特征,可以在卫星或航天器上广泛应用。