Orthogonally-polarized dual-band MEMS-tunable double-slotted unit cell for reflectarray applications

This paper presents a single-layer MEMS-reconfigurable reflective unit cell that supports two bands (12 and 14 GHz) at two orthogonal polarizations. A pair of MEMS varactors is used for continuous and independent tuning of each band. The dynamic phase range of 310 degree is obtained with a maximum loss of 0.23 dB. The resultant reflectarray can have a separate scanned beam of given polarization at each of its two operating frequency bands. This unit cell has the requirements of Cognitive Radio and Satellite two-way communication.