Dual-mode millimeter-wave folded microstrip reflectarray antenna

A dual-mode folded microstrip reflectarray antenna was developed and demonstrated in this paper. The proposed folded reflectarray antenna contains three parts: a planar main reflector, a planar subreflector, and printed feed antennas. The main reflector is used to produce twisted reradiated fields and to provide phase compensation for focusing. The subreflector parallel with the main reflector is made of a substrate printed with high-density metal grid lines, which is transparent to perpendicularly polarized fields, but would reflect the parallel ones. Three fixed-position patch antennas with polarization parallel to the grid lines are created for the radar mode, so that the radiation beam is switchable. Another patch with perpendicular polarization is designed for communication. A simple approach was proposed for simulating and designing the folded reflectarray. Measured results show good agreement with the calculated ones.