Reconfigurable Reflectarrays and Array Lenses for Dynamic Antenna Beam Control: A Review

TL;DR

This review paper discusses recent advances in reconfigurable reflectarrays and array lenses, highlighting their design approaches, capabilities like multi-band and polarization control, and future challenges in dynamic antenna beam shaping.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of recent technological developments, experimental implementations, and fundamental design approaches of reconfigurable reflectarrays and array lenses.

Findings

Multiple reconfigurable architectures enable dynamic beam control.

Advanced functionalities include multi-band operation and polarization manipulation.

Future challenges involve integration and real-time reconfigurability.

Abstract

Advances in reflectarrays and array lenses with electronic beam-forming capabilities are enabling a host of new possibilities for these high-performance, low-cost antenna architectures. This paper reviews enabling technologies and topologies of reconfigurable reflectarray and array lens designs, and surveys a range of experimental implementations and achievements that have been made in this area in recent years. The paper describes the fundamental design approaches employed in realizing reconfigurable designs, and explores advanced capabilities of these nascent architectures, such as multi-band operation, polarization manipulation, frequency agility, and amplification. Finally, the paper concludes by discussing future challenges and possibilities for these antennas.