Abstract
Ultra-lightweight deployable antennas with high-gain are pivotal communication components for small satellites, which are intrinsically constrained in size, weight, and power. In this work, we design and demonstrate metasurface-based ultra-lightweight flat off-axis reflectarrays for microwave beam collimation and focusing, similar to a parabolic dish-antenna. Our ultra-thin reflectarrays employ resonators of variable sizes to cover the full 2π phase range, and are arranged on the metasurface to realize a two-dimensional parabolic focusing phase distribution. We demonstrate a 30° off-axis focusing reflector that exhibits a measured gain of 27.5 dB at the central operating frequency of 11.8 GHz and a 3 dB directionality <pm 1.6°. Furthermore, we carry out full-wave simulations of the reflectarray, showing high gain of the beam focusing/collimation functionality, in good agreement with measurements. The demonstrated reflectarrays will enable low-cost, lightweight, and high-gain deployable transceivers for small-satellite platforms.
Highlights
Small satellites (SmallSats) are emerging space research capabilities for many intriguing applications such as sensing, imaging, tracking, surveillance, and high-speed communications
There have been many efforts to increase the performance of reflectarrays by implementing various types of phase manipulating elements, including variable delay lines[12], frequency selective surfaces[13], and metasurfaces[14,15]. Many of these demonstrations are focused on enabling broadband and polarization independent radiation at the price of using multi-layers[16,17] or thick substrates[18], making them bulky for small satellite applications
Planar reflectarrays have been studied as a viable option for enabling high-gain antennas for SmallSat applications[19,20]
Summary
Small satellites (SmallSats) are emerging space research capabilities for many intriguing applications such as sensing, imaging, tracking, surveillance, and high-speed communications. There have been many efforts to increase the performance of reflectarrays by implementing various types of phase manipulating elements, including variable delay lines[12], frequency selective surfaces[13], and metasurfaces[14,15] Many of these demonstrations are focused on enabling broadband and polarization independent radiation at the price of using multi-layers[16,17] or thick substrates[18], making them bulky for small satellite applications. Planar reflectarrays have been studied as a viable option for enabling high-gain antennas for SmallSat applications[19,20] While these results are encouraging, further studies are required for addressing issues like phase quantization errors, estimation of focal depth, and reduced stowage volume and payload. Most metasurface reflectarrays employ variable sized metallic square patches as the unit cell, which show high sensitivity to phase changes with the length of the resonators around the resonant length, making it difficult to fabricate patches with great precision in order to obtain the required phase and reduce phase quantization errors
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