Design of Novel Fully Metallic mm-wave Reflectarray Antenna

The design of a novel fully metallic reflectarray antenna at millimetre-wave frequencies is presented. The reflectarray consists of 3-D metallic unit cells resembling four layers of thick metallic patches connected by metallic vias. Full phase control and low losses are achieved by generating numerous unit cells with different combinations of the patches’ size. Simulations have been carried out using CST Microwave Studio and TICRA QUPES to evaluate the response of the unit cells and the proposed reflectarray. The unconventional multi-layer design suggested can be implemented by exploiting recently emerged additive manufacturing techniques. In terms of the reflectarray performance, the operating frequency is centered at 30GHz whilst the directivity is approximately 28dBi.