Design of millimeter wave microstrip reflectarrays

Abstract

This paper discusses the theoretical modeling and practical design of millimeter wave reflectarrays using microstrip patch elements of variable size. A full-wave treatment of plane wave reflection from a uniform infinite array of microstrip patches is described and used to generate the required patch-design data and to calculate the radiation patterns of the reflectarray. The critical parameters of millimeter wave reflectarray design, such as aperture efficiency, phase errors, losses, and bandwidth are also discussed. Several reflectarray feeding techniques are described, and measurements from four reflectarray design examples at 28 and 77 GHz are presented.