Design of an L-band reflectarray antenna for BeiDou satellite applications

A 2.88-m L-band circularly polarized reflectarray antenna is designed and implemented for satellite applications. Variable-sized microstrip patch elements with a double-layer substrate are used to minimize dielectric loss, antenna weight, and system cost. Instead of traditional horns, a simple circularly polarized microstrip array is designed as the feeding antenna. An unconventional main beam direction of 45.5° is achieved for monitoring navigation signals from a geostationary satellite. Simulation results show the co-polarization gain reaches 31.3 dB at 1.56 GHz, which validates the effectiveness of reflectarrays in this type of applications.