Multiple spot beam reflectarrays for high throughput satellite applications

The number of main apertures needed to cover a full transmit/receive multiple spot beam mission can be reduced by using reflectarrays with array elements printed on a doubly curved surface. By combining the capabilities of the reflectarray and a parabolic surface, it is shown that three main apertures are sufficient for both transmit/receive operations if single-band array elements are used, whereas only two main apertures are needed if dual-band array elements are considered.