Design, manufacture and measurement of a low-cost reflectarray for global earth coverage

Abstract

In this work a low-cost reflectarray with isoflux pattern for global Earth coverage is designed, manufactured and measured at 30GHz. The isoflux template is mathematically derived for a generic satellite and then particularized for a geostationary orbit. In order to reduce costs, the synthesis and design processes have to be accordingly adapted. First, the most simple unit cell is selected, consisting of a single layer of rectangular patches backed by a ground plane. This cell is not able to provide a 360° phase range and thus the synthesis algorithm has to be modified to include a phase constraint to match the range provided by the element, ensuring at the same time a smooth variation of the elements in order to obtain a reliable design. This is further ensured by limiting the patch size to a given range during the design process. Finally, the reflectarray is manufactured and measured, showing good agreement with the simulations.