Additively Manufactured Dielectric Reflectarray Antenna for Millimeter-Wave Satellite Communication

A highly proficient and compact 3-D-printed dielectric reflectarray (DR) antenna is engineered, fabricated, and tested to ensure wideband functionality for millimeter-wave satellite communication (SATCOM). Initially, a dielectric metamaterial unit cell (UC) having a periodicity of 0.28λ
₀
(here, λ
₀
is the free-space wavelength at 28 GHz) is proposed. Next, a DR structure is meticulously designed by arranging eight different variants of the proposed UC in an 18 × 18 array according to the obtained 3 b quantized phase profile, resulting in an overall aperture area of 25.4
${\lambda }_0^2$
. The proposed DR is primarily analyzed for its performance using radiation pattern analysis based on array theory followed by full-wave simulation. The entire DR antenna setup consists of a 3-D-printed horn antenna acting as a primary feed source, placed at a separation of 47 mm from DR along the +
z
-direction supported by a 3-D-printed structural framework. The DR antenna is additively manufactured, and its performance evaluation is done in an anechoic chamber revealing a measured half-power bandwidth of 43% with a peak gain of 23.8 dBi at 28 GHz, showcasing a notable gain enhancement of 9.7 dB compared to prior designs, translating to a remarkable maximum aperture efficiency of 75%.