Lesson plan
Reflectarray antenna
. Structure showing unit cells. This antenna has fixed cell delays, configured by different cutout sizes in each cell, as can be seen in the top-right inset. Larger cutouts produce the dark rings visible in the overview. A reflectarray antenna (or just reflectarray) consists of an array of unit cells, illuminated by a feeding antenna (source of electromagnetic waves). The feeding antenna is usually a horn. The unit cells are usually backed by a ground plane, and the incident wave reflects off them towards the direction of the beam, but each cell adds a different phase delay to the reflected signal. A phase distribution of concentric rings is applied to focus the wavefronts from the feeding antenna into a plane wave (to account for the varying path lengths from the feeding antenna to each unit cell). A progressive phase shift can be applied to the unit cells to steer the beam direction. It is common to offset the feeding antenna to prevent blockage of the beam. In this case, the phase distribution on the reflectarray surface needs to be altered. A reflectarray focuses a beam in a similar way to a parabolic reflector (dish), but with a much thinner form factor.
Article summary
. Structure showing unit cells. This antenna has fixed cell delays, configured by different cutout sizes in each cell, as can be seen in the top-right inset. Larger cutouts produce the dark rings visible in the overview. A reflectarray antenna (or just reflectarray) consists of an array of unit cells, illuminated by a feeding antenna (source of electromagnetic waves). The feeding antenna is usually a horn. The unit cells are usually backed by a ground plane, and the incident wave reflects off them towards the direction of the beam, but each cell adds a different phase delay to the reflected signal. A phase distribution of concentric rings is applied to focus the wavefronts from the feeding antenna into a plane wave (to account for the varying path lengths from the feeding antenna to each unit cell). A progressive phase shift can be applied to the unit cells to steer the beam direction. It is common to offset the feeding antenna to prevent blockage of the beam. In this case, the phase distribution on the reflectarray surface needs to be altered. A reflectarray focuses a beam in a similar way to a parabolic reflector (dish), but with a much thinner form factor.
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Discussion questions
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