Reflectarray Antenna Design for LEO Satellite Communications in Ka-band

This paper presents the design of a Ka-band reflectarray antenna, intended for LEO-satellite communications, which operates at 27 GHz. The phase tuning mechanism relies on variable size patches capable of achieving a 360° phase range, which enables the incoming wave to be scattered in any specific direction. In particular, the reflectarray antenna, which has a squared-shape of 30 cm each side, is constituted by a 50 × 50 radiating-patch elements, printed on a planar substrate of "Rogers TMM4" material. With a 27.41 dBi directivity, this configuration is able to generate a pencil-beam in perpendicular direction to the reflecting plane.