Reconfigurable Reflectarray Antenna Based on Hyperuniform Disordered Distribution

The irregularly located element array within the antenna aperture can be applied to obtain narrow main lobe width and low sidelobe levels with fewer elements as compared with the traditional (periodic) array configurations. In this article, a reconfigurable reflectarray antenna (RRA) combined with hyperuniform disordered distribution is presented. Based on the theoretical radiation pattern of reflectarray, it has been found that the proposed array with reduced elements holds a similar radiation pattern as that of a corresponding periodic array. Meanwhile, the reflectarray avoids the design of complicated feeding network for the disordered phased array antenna. In addition, for a reconfigurable reflectarray to achieve beam scanning, active devices are necessary. In such case, the design of RRA with fewer elements is of particular importance. A 1 bit RRA of 64 elements prototype has been designed, fabricated, and measured. The side length of each element is 0.625 lambda. Experimental results agree well with the full-wave simulations, and scan beams within +/- 50 degrees range have been obtained with a peak gain of 17.4 dBi at 12.5 GHz.

Automated summary

This article presents a reconfigurable reflectarray antenna (RRA) combined with hyperuniform disordered distribution, which reduces the number of elements but still maintains a similar radiation pattern as a periodic array. The reflectarray also avoids the need for a complicated feeding network design. Designing an RRA with fewer elements is particularly important for achieving beam scanning.