Large-angle beam scanning folded reflectarray with integrated feed source

The booming development in satellite communication service forces the brisk demand for "SatCom-on-the-move" devices. Due to the low profile, the ease of fabrication and realization of multifunction, folded reflectarrays have the potential to be applied in the "SatCom-on-the-move". To fill this application demand, a design method of the wide-angle scanning folded reflectarray is presented in this paper. Based on the multi-layer printed circuit board (PCB) technology, the design of a C-band microstrip slot-typed unit cell with the beam scanning angle up to 60° is accomplished and the folded refelctarrays with discrete beam angles of 0°, 45° and 60° are also designed by using the proposed slot-typed unit cell. In addition, the completely planar structure of the whole antenna is achieved through integrating the array source with the main reflecting face instead of using the traditional horn source. The simulated and measured results demonstrate that the proposed folded reflectarrays have the capability of realizing the large beam scanning angle up to 60° from 4.85 GHz to 5.15 GHz.