CEA, LETI, MINATEC Campus, Grenoble, France, Université Grenoble-Alpes, Grenoble, France, IETR, UMR CNRS 6164, Université de Rennes 1, Bât. 11D, Rennes Cedex, France, Université de Rennes 1, Bât. 11D, Rennes Cedex, France, INSA de Rennes, CS 70 839, Rennes Cedex 7, France

This paper describes the design of a 3-bit circularly-polarized transmitarray antenna operating in Ka-band. The array is based on a unit-cell composed of two U-shaped slot loaded patch antennas, which are connected by a metallized via hole and printed on two identical dielectric substrates. The latter are separated by a ground plane and bonded by a CuClad 6700 film. A 400-element transmitarray is simulated and demonstrates a maximum gain of 27.5 dBi, an aperture efficiency of 47.8% at 29 GHz. The 1-dB gain-bandwidth (LHCP) is equal to 14.8% at 29 GHz. The 1-dB axial ratio bandwidth covers the frequency band between 27-32 GHz. A good agreement is obtained between the full-wave simulation results performed with Ansys HFSS and the ones obtained using our hybrid in-house simulation tool. The impact of phase quantization on the performance of a 40×40-element array is also presented. The corresponding radiation patterns (co- and cross-polarization components) are compared to the masks defined by the European International Standardization Institutions (ETSI) in the case of point-to-point applications. © 2017 Euraap.

circular polarization, discrete lens, ETSI radiation masks, phase quantization, point-to-point communications, Transmitarray, wideband

Antenna arrays, Antenna grounds, Bandwidth, Circular polarization, Directional patterns (antenna), Frequency bands, Microstrip antennas, Polarization, Slot antennas, Discrete lens, Phase quantization, Point-to-point communication, Radiation masks, Transmit arrays, Wide-band, Microwave antennas