Dual-Band Circularly Polarized Fully Reconfigurable Reflectarray Antenna for Satellite Applications in the Ku-Band

Abstract

This work presents the design and experimental validation of a dual-band fully reconfigurable circularly polarized (CP) reflectarray (RA) antenna for satellite communication applications in the Ku band. The proposed structure operates with the downlink and uplink beams at frequency bands of [10.8−11.8] GHz and [14−15.4] GHz, respectively. Simultaneous and independent beam control is provided over each of the two bands. The constituent unit cell is composed of two interleaved circular loops of different sizes to address the two frequency bands. Each loop is loaded using four varactor diodes. The loops are symmetrically loaded in the transverse plane to provide an isotropic response suitable for CP applications. A phase range of more than 300 • is achieved in both bands as the capacitive loading varies, with an average of 2 dB loss in the lower frequency band and 3 dB loss in the higher band. In this paper, the response of the unit cell is studied through full-wave simulations and verified through quasi-optical (QO) measurements, and the fully tunable performance of the reflectarray is validated through measurements in a near-field anechoic chamber.

VO2-based ultra-reconfigurable intelligent reflective surface for 5G applications

“…It should be noted that the proposed structure is not any more complex than other RRA implementations which require MEMS, lumped elements, or liquid crystals 12 – 20 . The only electrically active element of our design is the resistive heating matrix which is considerably simpler than the alternative implementations.…”

“…Use of lumped components and tunable materials are the two major paradigms of current and emerging reconfigurable reflectarray antennas. The most common lumped components associated with developing RRAs are RF MEMS, PIN diodes, and varactor diodes 12 – 15 . Combinations of lumped components are also found in the literature 16 .…”

A Mechanically Rollable Reflectarray With Beam-Scanning Capabilities

“…Therefore, current research is focusing on developing compact/deployable beam-scanning HGAs for space applications [4]- [6]. The proposed solutions are generally based on traditional HGA technologies, such as, parabolic reflector antennas [7]- [9], phased array antennas [10]- [13], and reflectarray antennas (RAs) [14]- [18]. Compared to the parabolic reflector and phased array antennas, RAs provide highly directive and versatile beams while maintaining low mass, low fabrication cost, and low complexity [19], [20].…”

A 1‐bit reconfigurable metasurface antenna for ground penetrating radar application

“…Reference [26] proposed to synthesize sum and difference beams based on a reconfigurable metasurface at Ka-band. Reference [27] presented a dual-band fully reconfigurable circularly polarized reflectarray antenna for satellite communication applications.…”