Reflectarray antennas

Abstract

The reflectarray is a novel type of high-gain antennas, which combines some of favorable features of reflectors and arrays. It consists of a space-feeding primary source and an array of reflecting elements with individually predesigned phases to collimate or shape the high-gain beam in the desired direction. In this chapter, the operating principles of reflectarray antennas will first be introduced. Then the design procedure and analysis methods of both reflectarray elements and systems will be explained in detail and some practical design considerations will be discussed. Finally, some latest developments and applications, such as broadband and multiband techniques, reconfigurable reflectarray designs, shaped-beam and multi-beam reflectarrays, etc., will be presented.