Ka-Band Reflectarray with Cylindrical Dielectric Unit Cells: Optimized Additive Manufacturing and High-Permittivity...

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Antenna Theory

Background:

• Dielectric reflectarrays offer advantages in antenna design.
• Additive manufacturing enables precise control over material properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, manufacture, and characterize a Ka-band fully dielectric reflectarray.
• To explore the use of tunable material permittivity for performance optimization.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Zetamix ε 7.5 ceramic material and additive manufacturing.
• Optimized unit cell design through numerical analysis and experimental characterization.
• Designed and simulated a reflectarray with a 207.4λ0² aperture at 30 GHz.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated control over material permittivity via infill tuning.
• Achieved a broadband flat response from 28 to 31 GHz.
• Exhibited an aperture efficiency exceeding 50%.

Conclusions:

• Additive manufacturing of dielectric reflectarrays allows for precise material property control.
• The developed reflectarray shows excellent broadband performance and high efficiency.
• Tunable permittivity is a key parameter for optimizing reflectarray antennas.