High-Efficiency Polarizer Reflectarray Antennas for Data Transmission Links from a CubeSat

This paper presents two designs of high-efficiency polarizer reflectarray antennas able to generate a collimated beam in dual-circular polarization using a linearly polarized feed, with application to high-gain antennas for data transmission links from a Cubesat. First, an 18 cm x 18 cm polarizer reflectarray operating in the 17.2-22.7 GHz band has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The measurements of the prototype show an aperture efficiency of 52.7% for right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) and 57.3% for left-handed circular polarization (LHCP), both values higher than those previously reported in related works. Then, a dual-band polarizer reflectarray is presented for the first time, which operates in dual-CP in the frequency bands of 20 GHz and 30 GHz. The proposed antenna technology enables a reduction of the complexity and cost of the feed chain to operate in dual-CP, as a linear-to-circular polarizer is no longer required. This property, combined with the lightweight, flat profile and low fabrication cost of printed reflectarrays, makes the proposed antennas good candidates for Cubesat applications.

Automated summary

This paper presents two designs of high-efficiency polarizer reflectarray antennas capable of generating a collimated beam in dual-circular polarization using a linearly polarized feed, suitable for high-gain antennas for data transmission links from Cubesats. The first design operates in the 17.2-22.7 GHz band with aperture efficiencies of 52.7% for RHCP and 57.3% for LHCP, higher than previous works. The second design, a dual-band polarizer reflectarray, operates in the 20 GHz and 30 GHz frequency bands, reducing complexity and cost of the feed chain while eliminating the need for a linear-to-circular polarizer.