1-Bit Wideband Reconfigurable Reflectarray Design in Ku-Band

In this paper, a 1-bit wideband electronically reconfigurable reflectarray (RRA) in Ku-band is proposed. In order to achieve the wideband and reconfigurable characteristics, the stacked microstrip structure and a 1-bit "microstrip line-slot line-microstrip line" phase shifter (MSMPS) were introduced in this design. A novel "receiving-phase shift-transmitting" unit cell was gotten by connecting two stacked microstrip structures using MSMPS. Due to the receiving and transmitting parts are perpendicular to each other, the polarization rotation characteristic was demonstrated. To avoid the blockage of the feed horn, it was placed above the reflecting surface array with an offset angle of 25 degrees to the normal direction. A 16 x 16 obliquely-fed RRA was designed and fabricated. The measured 1-dB gain bandwidth of the RRA is 15.4%. The measured results show that the fabricated prototype can achieve beam scanning from -20 degrees to 50 degrees in the elevation plane, and +/- 50 degrees beam scanning in the azimuth plane.