Electromagnetically Controlled Beam-Steerable Reflectarray Antenna

A beam-steerable 2 bit reflectarray antenna with an electromagnetic control mechanism is presented in this communication. The phase reflection of the proposed 2 bit reflectarray unit elements is altered by moving two pins between a patch and the ground plane. In the suggested concept, the pins are moved with electromagnetism. To prove the concept, a prototype with manually turned screws is evaluated through measurements to verify the reflectarray performance. The prototype antenna is measured to have an impedance bandwidth of more than 5 GHz. The boresight realized gain is measured to be 20 dBi at 25 GHz and a gain bandwidth is more than 2 GHz. Measurements show that the prototype antenna is able to beam-steer in a 120 degrees range with a gain drop of less than 3 dB.