Large and deployable multi-faceted antennas based on single-layer reflectarrays

Abstract

This paper presents two designs of electrically large multi-faceted structures composed by reflectarray panels. The former comprises rectangular panels assembled edge-toedge following a parabolic profile along the largest dimension of the aperture. The latter is composed of panels with different shapes, arranged to mimic the equivalent reflector in multiple planes. Both antennas operate in the Ka-band using a simple cell based on a single-layer substrate. The multi-faceted designs exhibit a substantial enhancement in the gain bandwidth compared to a conventional deployable reflectarray, maintaining the low-profile storage load and low losses of this type of antenna technology.