Reconfigurable Reflectarray Antenna: A Comparison between Design Using PIN Diodes and Liquid Crystals
Muhammad Inam Abbasi, M. Y. Ismail, Muhammad Ramlee Kamarudin, Qammer H. Abbasi
Abstract
This work presents the design and analysis of active reflectarray antennas with slot embedded patch element configurations within an X ‐band frequency range. Two active reflectarray design technologies have been proposed by digital frequency switching using PIN diodes and analogue frequency tuning using liquid crystal‐based substrates. A waveguide simulator has been used to perform scattering parameter measurements in order to practically compare the performance of reflectarray designed based on the two active design technologies. PIN diode‐based active reflectarray unit cell design is shown to offer a frequency tunability of 0.36 GHz with a dynamic phase range of 226°. On the other hand, liquid crystal‐based design provided slightly lower frequency tunability of 0.20 GHz with a dynamic phase range of 124°. Moreover, the higher reflection loss and slow frequency tuning are demonstrated to be the disadvantages of liquid crystal‐based designs as compared to PIN diode‐based active reflectarray designs.