Designing a 161-element Ku-band microstrip reflectarray of variable size patches using an equivalent unit cell waveguide approach

We present an equivalent unit cell waveguide approach (WGA) to designing a multilayer microstrip reflectarray of variable size patches. A normal incidence of a plane wave on an infinite periodic array of radiating elements is considered to obtain reflection coefficient phase curves for the reflectarrayʹs elements. It is shown that this problem is equivalent to the problem of reflection of the dominant TEM mode in a waveguide with patches interleaved by layers of dielectric. This waveguide problem is solved using a field matching technique and the method of moments (MoM). Based on this solution, a fast computer algorithm is developed to generate reflection coefficient phase curves for a multilayer microstrip patch reflectarray. The validity of the developed algorithm is tested against alternative approaches and Agilent high frequency structure simulator (HFSS). Having confirmed the validity of the WGA approach, a small offset feed two-layer microstrip patch array is designed and developed. This reflectarray is tested experimentally and shows good performance.