Design of reflectarrays using slotted microstrip antennas with via connecting to ground plane

This paper proposes a new method for designing a microstrip-antenna reflectarray. The array is a set of slotted rectangular microstrip antennas with one or two vias connected to the ground plane. Different techniques may be used to control the phase of the reflected wave, either by adjusting the via position along the symmetry axis of the patch (which is also the E-field direction of polarization) or by adjusting the radius of the via. The reflection coefficient in terms of via characteristics is computed by a waveguide approach (WGA) using Agilent's High-Frequency Structure-Simulator (HFSS) software. Three 1 × 18 elements reflectarrays in the X-band have been designed, realized, and tested. The measured reflectarray radiation patterns show that the main-beam steering agrees with the design requirements. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 43: 368–370, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20471