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IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation
Volume 46 Number 5, May 1998

A Ka-Band Microstrip Reflectarray with Elements Having Variable Rotation Angles

Page 650.

Abstract:

This paper demonstrates a novel means of achieving cophasal far-field radiation for a circularly polarized microstrip reflectarray with elements having variable rotation angles. Two Ka-band half-meter microstrip reflectarrays have been fabricated and tested. Both are believed to be the electrically largest reflectarrays ever developed using microstrip patches. One--a conventional design--has identical square patches with variable-length microstrip phase-delay lines attached. The other has identical square patches with identical microstrip phase-delay lines but different element rotation angles. Both antennas demonstrated excellent performance with more than 55% aperture efficiencies, but the one with variable rotation angles resulted in better overall performance. A brief mathematical analysis is presented to validate this "rotational element" approach. With this approach, a means of scanning the main beam of the reflectarray over a wide angular region without any RF beamformer by using miniature or micromachined motors is viable.

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