Design of a Metallic Reflectarray Antenna for Satellite Communications

Metallic reflectarray antennas provide a unique method to get high gain and wideband performance while avoiding dielectric losses. Their capacity to accomplish these objectives makes them a strong candidate for high frequency satellite applications. This study presents a broadband aluminum-only reflectarray antenna. Simulations were conducted using CST Microwave Studio to assess the performance of the proposed 3D unit cells and the resulting reflectarray. Our novelty lies on the geometry of reflectarray unit cells which are composed of spherical elements. These elements demonstrate low loss (average loss less is than 0.1 dB) and stable phase response across the operating spectrum. Also the simulation results indicate a broad fractional bandwidth of 31% and a peak gain of about 26.2 dBi at 8 GHz, accompanied with a low side lobe level of -20.4 dB.