Abstract
This article demonstrated an accurate analysis technique for dual-reflectarray antennas that take into account the angle of incidence of the impinging electric field on the main reflectarray cells. The reflected field on the sub and the main reflectarray surfaces is computed using Method of Moments in the spectral domain and assuming local periodicity. The sub-reflectarray is divided into groups of elements and the field radiated by each group is used to compute the incident and reflected field on the main reflectarray cells. A 50-cm demonstrator in Ku-band that provides European coverage has been designed, manufactured and tested to validate the analysis technique. The measured radiation patterns match the simulations and they fulfill the coverage requirements, achieving a cross-polar discrimination better than 25 dB in the frequency range: 12.975–14.25 GHz.
Highlights
Synthetic Aperture Radar [1] and long distance communications are two of the most popular and demanding applications for spaceborne antennas that require contoured beams [2,3], multibeam or beam scanning
This paper demonstrates that a dual-reflectarray antenna can produce a contoured beam, emulating a dual offset parabolic reflector of a large F/D ( F/D = 4)
The proposed analysis technique is used for a dual-reflectarray antenna that consists of a flat sub-reflectarray (SRA) illuminated with a feed horn and a flat main reflectarray (MRA)
Summary
Synthetic Aperture Radar [1] and long distance communications are two of the most popular and demanding applications for spaceborne antennas that require contoured beams [2,3], multibeam or beam scanning. Dual-reflectarray antennas present some advantages respect to the well-known single offset ones [11], like the reduction of the volume for antenna geometries with a large focal distance. In the fix incident angle approximation, the reflected coefficient matrices of the main reflectarray are computed N MR times instead of N MR × NSR times as it is done in the full wave analysis. This approximation reduces significantly the computation time. The approximation of the fix incident angle is valid, like the compact dual-reflectarray antenna in Ku-band to produce a pencil beam presented in [27]. The antenna was manufactured and tested at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, achieving good agreement between simulations and measurements in the whole designed frequency band (12.975–14.250 GHz)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
