Comparative study of reflectarrays based on cells with three coplanar dipoles and reflectarrays based on cells with three stacked patches

In this work, the authors compare two designs of reflectarray antennas made of two different types of elements. One of the reflectarray designs is intended to generate a collimated beam and the other is intended to generate a contoured beam. In order to produce these radiation patterns, in one case three coplanar parallel dipoles are used as reflectarray elements, and in the other case stacked square patches are used as reflectarray elements. The results obtained indicate that the collimated beam and shaped beam reflectarrays made of parallel dipoles have a good bandwidth performance, which is comparable to that of the collimated beam and shaped beam reflectarrays made of stacked patches. However, the reflectarrays made of parallel dipoles achieve the broadband goal with a manufacturing process that is easier and cheaper than that required by the reflectarrays made of stacked patches.