Analysis of reflectors fed by reconfigurable array lenses

Array lenses are growing in popularity for their ability to potentially create reconfigurable beam patterns. Of particular interest is their possible application to satellite communications as they can provide reconfigurable high-gain beam forming at a low cost. This paper analyzes a high-gain compound aperture consisting of a parabolic reflector and a 6 × 6 reconfigurable array lens. Applying conjugate field matching, the optimal element phases are found and used to configure simulated array lens models for generating the reflector illumination. Simulating the reflector using physical optics, it is found that high-gain pencil beams can be formed and scanned up to 8° away from the reflector axis. A compound system is constructed using a prototype reconfigurable array lens and a parabolic reflector, and beam scanning from -5° to +5° off-boresight is experimentally demonstrated.