Novel Reflectarray Antenna with Quasi-Dipole Unit Cells

This letter presents a novel reflectarray design based on quasi-dipole unit cells. The substrate of the quasi-dipoles is oriented perpendicular to the array surface, giving the advantage of sufficient large area for phase-shifter circuits behind the antenna element. In order to prove the concept at 10 GHz, unit cells are characterized in a waveguide simulator, and far-field measurements of two 8 × 8-element antenna demonstrators are presented. One demonstrator, pointing in a broadside direction, has shown a half-power beamwidth of 15 ° and a sidelobe level of -12 dB in the E-plane. The other demonstrator is pointing toward 20 ° and has shown a sidelobe level of -7 dB with a half-power beamwidth of 20 °.