Ultrabroadband and Multipolarized Electrically Reconfigurable Reflectarray Antennas

In this article a general strategy for designingultrabroadband and multipolarized electrically reconfigurablereflectarray antennas (RRAs) is proposed. The realization ofultrabroadband reconfigurable 1-bit phases and nearly uniformreflection magnitudes results from applying the mirror-symmetryprinciple and subwavelength mechanism, respectively. Numericalsimulations reveal that the proposed element operates withinan impressive bandwidth spanning of 6.7-10.6 GHz, boastinga fractional bandwidth of 45.1% and featuring a stable 1-bitphase manipulation and reflection loss of <= 1.0 dB throughoutthis frequency range. To validate the approach experimentally,an RRA array consisting of 16x16 elements has been designed,fabricated, and measured for dynamic beam scanning. Themeasurements confirm a robust beam manipulation bandwidthextending from 7.0 to 11.0 GHz, encompassing a fractionalbandwidth of 44.4% for wide-angle beam steering capability ofup to 60 degrees. Moreover, the ability to control circularly polarized(CP) electromagnetic waves has also been validated throughtheory deduction and simulation, demonstrating manipulationbandwidths ranging from 7.0 to 10.5 GHz. This study offers freshinsights into the design of ultrabroadband and multipolarizedelectrically RRAs and holds vast potential for diverse applica-tions in the next-generation high-speed wireless communicationsystems.