Received: 9 December 2019 Revised: 15 February 2020 Accepted: 20 April 2020

DOI: 10.1002/mmce.22272

REVIEW ARTICLE

A comprehensive analysis on the state-of-the-art

developments in reflectarray, transmitarray, and transmit-
reflectarray antennas

Kavitha Narayanasamy1 | Gulam Nabi Alsath Mohammed1 |

1 1
Kirubaveni Savarimuthu | Ramprabhu Sivasamy | Malathi Kanagasabai2

1
Department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering, Sri Abstract
Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Contemplating the advancements in communication technology, the analysis
Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
of the features of reflectarray, transmitarray, and transmit-reflectarray
2
Department of Electronics and
becomes essential for future adaptability. This article presents a thorough
Communication Engineering, College of
Engineering, Anna University, Guindy, review of such high-gain antennas, presenting some of the most relevant solu-
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India tions published by the scientific society in the field of antennas and wave prop-
Correspondence
agation. Several examples of unit cells for array implementation and complete
Kavitha Narayanasamy, Department of array designs discussed in various literatures are analyzed. The analysis is
Electronics and Communication focused in identifying the unit cell layouts, such as those developed using
Engineering, Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar
College of Engineering, Chennai 603 110.
microstrip patches, frequency selective surfaces, or metamaterials. The analysis
Email: [email protected] is extended to the ways of improving bandwidth, for example, true time delay
elements, phase delay lines, meander lines, and so on, and the various
methods used to enable reconfiguration, for example, p-i-n diodes, varactor
diodes, or microelectromechanical systems. In addition, some antennas, which
produce bidirectional beams simultaneously, are also discussed. Finally, all the
models are compared against each other in order to highlight their benefits
and limitations, summarizing their main characteristics, such as the frequency
of operation, bandwidth, phase range, gain, aperture efficiency, sidelobe levels,
cross polarization levels, and maximum beam-steering range.

KEYWORDS
beam shaping, beam steering, high-gain antennas, polarization control, reflectarray antennas,
transmitarray antennas, transmit-reflectarray antennas

1 | INTRODUCTION called high-gain antennas (HGAs). Arrays of horn

antenna with waveguide feed network, parabolic reflec-
Applications such as satellite communication, radars, tors, lens antenna, and phased array antennas are the tra-
deep space communication, and point-to-point terrestrial ditionally used HGAs. But these antennas suffer from
communication have vital requirements of high-gain shortcomings such as complex and costly fabrication pro-
pencil beam and multibeam synthesis. High-gain beams cesses and complicated feed networks. Antennas with
for such applications are produced by directional anten- low profile, low loss, and low production cost are of para-
nas that provide increased signal strength during trans- mount importance for such communication and sensor
mission and reception. These directional antennas are applications. Hence, spatially fed printed planar array

Int J RF Microw Comput Aided Eng. 2020;30:e22272. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mmce © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1 of 22
https://doi.org/10.1002/mmce.22272
2 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

antennas with the advantages of ease of fabrication, low

cost, low loss, lightweight, and low profile are utilized in
many applications such as satellite communications,
direct broadcasting services (DBS), and so on. Also, the
planar array antennas are useful for the generation of
near field focused radiations in applications such as radio
frequency identification (RFID) systems, vital life-detec-
tion, and noncontact microwave detection. Reflectarray
(RA),1 transmitarray (TA),2 and transmit-reflect array
(TRA)3 are the spatially fed high-gain planar antennas
used as a replacement for the traditional HGAs in most
communication applications.
In these spatially fed planar antenna arrays, the field
from a source located at the focal point F reaches the
array elements at different phases due to the different
path lengths. The phase of each element is adjusted to
compensate for such phase difference due to path
lengths. The resulting co-phasal field is reradiated in a
particular direction. In RA,4 the direction of the
reradiated wave is in the same plane as the source.
Whereas in TA, the reradiated wave traverses the side
opposite to the source. Bi-directional radiation occurs in FIGURE 1 Organization chart of the manuscript
TRA. As they are illuminated directly by the primary
source, these arrays, unlike the parabolic reflectors and
the phased arrays, have the benefit of not requiring any phase changes to the incident wave producing a reradiated
bulky and dissipative feed network. Hence, these spa- wave with planar wave front. The required path delay-
tially fed antennas have much reduced insertion loss at compensating phases4 from the array elements for phase
millimeter wave frequencies. equalization are achieved by varying the surface imped-
The possible unit cell structures of RA, TA, and TRA ance5 of the array either by introducing changes in the
and various ways of improving the performance of these structure of the array elements6 or by using different length
arrays5 are briefly analyzed in this review paper. The open or short-circuited transmission lines7 connected to
organization of this article is briefly explained in the each element. For circular polarization, the phase compen-
flowchart depicted in Figure 1. Various unit cell struc- sation is achieved through angular rotations of the ele-
tures of RA and TA and their characteristic variations in ments.8 Proper positioning of the reactive loads in the
terms of geometrical changes are discussed in section 2. slotted rings provides an efficient control of the reflection
As the planar array antennas developed with microstrip angle for the circularly polarized incident wave. In this sec-
patches have the disadvantage of narrow bandwidth, var- tion, such possible phase compensating unit cell structures
ious possibilities of improving the bandwidth are ana- of RA and TA are discussed.
lyzed in section 3. The multiband antennas and their
performances are explained in section 4. In section 5, the
reconfiguration of reflectarray and transmitarray using 2.1 | Reflectarray structures
different principles and devices is presented. The perfor-
mance of such reconfigurable arrays is compared. In sec- A simple RA with square patch elements on a thick
tion 6, the bidirectional TRAs and their performance is dielectric substrate operated at 28 GHz is designed and
discussed. analyzed in Reference 9. Varying the sizes of the square
patches produced about 5% of 1-dB gain bandwidth and
measured gain of 31 dBi. As a comparative study, an RA
2 | UNIT C ELL S TRUCTURES constructed with different unit cells such as rectangular
element, thin dipole, stub-loaded rectangle, a rectangle
When the source transmits wave toward the planar array with a ridge and “dog-bone” shaped element is simulated
antennas, there exists a path difference in each incident in Reference 10. The comparison of their performances
wave at different unit cells of the array. This path differ- in terms of phase variation range and bandwidth is tabu-
ence is compensated by each unit cell by introducing lated in Table 1.
NARAYANASAMY ET AL. 3 of 22

An increased phase range variation of about 397 is applications also. To avoid the conduction and dielectric
achieved in Reference 11 by using the self-similarity and losses in transistor amplifiers at upper microwave and
unlimited space-filling properties of fractal elements millimeter wave frequencies, an RA acting as a space-
called Minkowski rings as depicted in Figure 2. Antenna level power combiner is implemented in Reference 16.
gain of 19.1 dBi at an operating frequency of 5.8 GHz This amplifier having an array of active elements operat-
with 18.6% of 1-dB gain bandwidth is reported using the ing at 10 GHz provides gain greater than 6.5 dBi with a
structure. In Reference 12, elements with double rings in bandwidth of 10%. For applications such as backhaul net-
circular or square shape printed on a thin substrate and working of cellular base stations, wireless personal area
supported by thick low-permittivity foam are utilized to network (WPAN) and millimeter-wave imaging to detect
extend the phase range with a gentle phase slope. The concealed weapons and nonmetal objects, a low loss
phase ranges of these double rings extend to 700 . characteristic metal-only RA is developed and demon-
As demonstrated in Reference 8 for circularly polar- strated in Reference 17. Using the superposition princi-
ized radiations, the phase shift delay is introduced by dif- ple, the array of rectangular metallic grooves operated at
ferent angular rotations of the elements. Ring slot 75 GHz achieved 42.3 dBi antenna gain.
resonators printed on a dielectric substrate called spi- Recently, RAs have been found more useful in imaging
raphase RA provides increased phase variations through and radioastronomy applications, which operate at
the inductive loading effect.
In all these variations of RA, outside the band of oper-
ation, radar cross-section (RCS) due to the ground metal
plane is seen. To reduce this RCS, the ground plane was
replaced by a bandstop frequency selective surface
(BSFSS) in Reference 13. At an operating frequency of
10 GHz, 26.26 dBi measured peak gain with 42.87% aper-
ture efficiency was measured. This article reported a 1 dB
gain bandwidth of 15.4%. To avoid the uncertainty that
might occur in the phase changes due to abrupt geomet-
rical variations discussed in these reported papers,
smooth geometric variations are achieved using phoenix
cell elements in References.14,15 The phoenix cell as
shown in Figure 3 includes a metallic cross acting as a
capacitive element and a metallic grid acting as an induc-
tive element. By changing the impedance offered by these
elements, 53.8% aperture efficiency, 33.9 dBi gain, and
1 dB gain bandwidth of 12.8% is calculated at 12.5 GHz.
In addition to the purpose of increasing phase range,
variations are implemented in RA structures based on FIGURE 2 Fractal element,11 © 2019, IEEE

TABLE 1 Performance
Element Structure Phase BW (%)
comparison of RA with different unit
cell shapes10 Rectangular 338 2.6

Thin dipole 350 1.1

Stub-loaded > 360 1.6

Ridge 348 Cross pol: −23 dB 2.6

Dog bone 348 Cross pol: −40 dB 2.6

4 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

FIGURE 4 Malta cross,23 © 2016, IEEE

reception and transmission and the processing interface

for array phase conformation in each transmitarray cell.19
FIGURE 3 Phoenix cell,15 © 2016, IEEE The design of the TA structure includes two approaches.
One is the layered-scattered approach where the electri-
terahertz (THz) frequencies. Compared to gold patches, at cal behavior of a surface can be changed using periodic
THz frequency, graphene exhibits certain unique features structures such as slots, rings, patches, or wire grids. The
such as high electron mobility, field effect, and complex sur- layers within a structure may be identical or nonidenti-
face conductivity, which allow the propagation of cal. The other is a guided-wave approach where two
plasmonic slow-wave modes. In Reference 18, the RA ele- antennas are connected to the input and output of a
ment used is a graphene patch modeled as an infinitely thin guided-wave phase shifter or delay line.
surface with complex conductivity. This graphene-based RA Regardless of the element shape, the phase limit of a
produced a better 1-dB-gain bandwidth of 15% and 290 multilayer TA depends on the number of layers, substrate
phase range. This article reported a low cross-polarization material, and separation between layers. A TA designed
level of more than 35 dBi below the maximum of the main with quaternary conductor layers separated by dielectric
beam at the cost of 2.3 dBi gain reduction. Thus, planar substrate with double square slot elements20 and cross-
RAs can be implemented with increased phase ranges for slot elements21 provides a full 360 phase range. Calcu-
various applications in different operating frequencies by lated at 11.3 GHz, this article reported a maximum mea-
introducing structural changes in the unit cells. sured gain of 24.26 dBi and 4.2% of 1 dB gain bandwidth.
In a similar structure with a double split ring slot
element,22 7.4% of 1 dB gain bandwidth, 55% of aperture
2.2 | Transmitarray structures efficiency and 23.9 dBi gain was measured at 13.58 GHz.
A 2 layer M-FSS TA23 operated at 20 GHz with Malta-
The RA, though serves as a better alternative to other cross elements as shown in Figure 4 provided 305 phase
HGAs such as parabolic reflectors and phased array range, 33 dBi gain, and 40% aperture efficiency.
antennas, suffers from feed blockage resulting in reduced As stacking up of four metallic layers to achieve a
performance. The performance of TA, where the incident 360 phase range might lead to misalignment errors and
wave from the source is transmitted through the array assembly issues, a better solution is provided in Refer-
structure and received on the side opposite to the source, ence 24. A three-layered TA with metal-only unit cells
does not suffer from feed blockage.19 In this section, as a (MOUC) rotating in opposite directions is proposed in
solution to the feed blockage issue, various possibilities of this article. With this opposite polarization directions, the
implementing TA are discussed. A TA acts like a lens all- array produced a 360 phase range with 11% of 3 dB gain
owing the incident wave to pass-through with or without bandwidth. At an operating frequency of 29.5 GHz, this
alteration of its direction of propagation. It combines the article reported 28.3 dBi measured gain and 36.5% aper-
features of lens and phased array antennas. The radiating ture efficiency. As illustrated in Reference 25, an array of
element of a TA antenna has to provide both the trans- capacitively loaded dipoles in three layers provided a
mission magnitude close to 1 (in linear scale) and phase bandwidth of 17%.
compensation of 360 at the same time. Hence, the struc- An optical TA for refraction and focusing at long-
ture has two principal parts: the radiating interface for wavelength infrared (LWIR) region of 30 THz with three
NARAYANASAMY ET AL. 5 of 22

FIGURE 5 Guided-wave TA,27 ©

2015, IEEE

layers of antenna array sheets (AAS) consisting of ellipti- requirement for most communication applications, espe-
cal metallic patches is developed in Reference 26. In the cially with the increasing demand for higher data rates.
reported paper, high transmission and low reflection with Recent advancements in radar, electronic warfare, and
14% bandwidth and 70% efficiency are obtained by rotat- communication systems have created the need for broad-
ing each triple-patch unit cell. band results.30
Based on the guided wave approach, a TA with a unit
cell formed by two dielectric layers as shown in Figure 5
with annular ring slots on the outer layers and a uni- 3.1 | Broadband reflectarray structures
planar compact photonic bandgap (UC-PBG) element on
the inner layer is designed and analyzed in Reference 27. The bandwidth performance of a microstrip RA is limited
An optimized result of 41% aperture efficiency, 23 dBi primarily by four factors: the bandwidth of the microstrip
gain and 5.7% 1 dB gain bandwidth is presented in this element, the array element spacing, the feed antenna
article. bandwidth, and the differential spatial phase delay.31
Besides their usage in communication applications, Various ways of improving the bandwidth of RA are dis-
TAs, which are near field (NF) focused, are widely used cussed in this section. Geometrical variations in the unit
in microwave remote sensing, local hyperthermia, ther- cell structure, inclusion of delay lines and layering are
mography, RFID, and imaging. Such TAs focus the inci- among those methods of improving bandwidth. The
dent energy from the source to a particular smaller advantages and disadvantages of each method are dis-
region called focus or spot. In Reference 28, an NF cussed briefly here. In Reference 32, the required phase
focused TA is constructed using a square dielectric box delay is achieved without using delay lines. A 10% band-
with four holes as unit cells. Operated at 2.45 GHz, the width is attained by varying the dimensions of patches in
array provided 21.4 dBi gain with 200 MHz bandwidth. the three layer stacked array. A smoother phase variation
The focused beam was tested on a knee model for its with a phase range larger than 360 is reported using
hyperthermia response. Hence based on the analysis two-layered array of patches in Reference 33. At an oper-
made on various structures of TA, among the variations ating frequency of 12 GHz, 16.7% bandwidth and 31 dBi
in unit cell structures, the three-layered TA proves to be gain are presented in this article.
a preferable candidate in communication applications. To reduce the manufacturing complexity involved in
While a two-layered structure offers reduced phase range, layered structures, RA structures with multiresonant ele-
a quad-layered TA produces loss due to misalignment ments are utilized. The changes in surface impedance
errors. and thereby the phase variations are obtained by varying
the length of double cross loop elements on a grounded
substrate in a single layer RA.34 The double cross loops
3 | B ANDW I D T H EN H AN CI N G operated at 22 GHz provided a −1 dB gain bandwidth of
STRUCTURES 10% with 28.4 dBi gain and 55% of aperture efficiency.
Another variation is observed that a tilt of 83.5 on one
Planar array antennas implemented using microstrip pat- vertical side of a square patch element35 produced −3 dB
ches suffer from the shortcoming of narrow bandwidth gain drop bandwidth of 3.3 GHz (12.7%). A Phoenix cell36
due to large Q-factor of the patches. Due to thin cavity constructed by inserting a metallic ring inside a square
and the nonlinear nature of phase response at the edges ring slot is utilized to improve the bandwidth of RA
of the patch, the bandwidth of the microstrip structure is structures. By varying the position of the metallic ring
only 3 to 5%.29 But bandwidth is an important inside the slot, 18% bandwidth is reported.
6 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

The bandwidth of RA can be further improved when Figure 7. This article reported 3 dB bandwidth of 18%,
the phase variations of the array at extreme frequencies maximum gain of 24 dBi and 35% efficiency.
are smooth. This can be done by stacking patches and A single-layer subwavelength phase shifting ele-
using patches with a thick substrate. But using the ment43 with a cell size of λ/5 operated at 10 GHz based
thicker substrate for reducing the phase slope reduces the on double square meander-line microstrip rings, as
phase range of the array. Hence, proper design of the depicted in Figure 8, is developed to improve the array
phase shifting element is highly needed to improve the bandwidth. By changing the length of the meander line,
bandwidth of the array. Such a large reflect phase varia- a 420 phase change is achieved at the center frequency
tion with less slope is obtained in Reference 37 using the with a measured 1.5-dB gain bandwidth of 18% and 56.5%
advantages of fractal elements. As stated in section 2, the aperture efficiency. The cross-polarization levels are below
self-similarity property and self-loading property38 of the −30 dB for both E and H-planes. Considering the high fab-
fractal geometries increase the bandwidth of the array. In rication cost of multilayered structures and the losses due
Reference 37, a fractal element with two concentric hexa- to the coupling effects of subwavelength structures, a bet-
gon rings where each side of the inner hexagon is equal ter solution is provided in Reference 44 to improve the
to the adjacent outer hexagon multiplied by the factor of bandwidth of RA. A novel single layered phoenix cell
k is used. Factors of 0.75 lead to a better linear reflect structure that incorporates metallic cross loops and cross
phase and enough phase variation range. The measured dipole patch are developed. The variation in the gap
1-dB gain bandwidth of about 18.5% and radiation effi- between the outer and inner cross loops and the cross
ciency of 75% is obtained using the fractal elements.
The phase equalization required over a broadband of
frequencies, by the reduction of differential spatial phase
delay, can be obtained by involving true time delays
(TTDs) in the spherical waves from the feed horn. This is
done by introducing a physical path in the form of U-
shaped delay line as depicted in Figure 6, which is aper-
ture coupled to the patches.39 This delay line produced
three cycles of 360 phase range, 20% bandwidth and
36.3 dBi gain. An increased bandwidth of 22% and 65%
aperture efficiency is reported in Reference 40 using a RA
structure with an artificial impedance surface having
reduced element size and spacing. But the usage of
lengthier phase delay lines for improving bandwidth
occupies more space. Hence a structure with an increased
bandwidth (phase range > 500 ) and less spacing
between elements is implemented41,42 by turning the FIGURE 7 Phase delay line4

phase-delay line around the element as shown in

FIGURE 6 True time delay element39 © 2008, IEEE FIGURE 8 Meander line43 © 2016, IEEE
NARAYANASAMY ET AL. 7 of 22

dipole patch produced the required 360 phase range. In using a double-layered structure53 with metal stubs and
the frequency range of 25 to 33.6 GHz, the 30.7% 1 dB gain vias. The vias provide strong coupling between the upper
bandwidth and gain of 19.2 dBi are achieved. and lower layers of the TA. The metal stubs improve the
Based on the bandwidth enhancing structures ana- phase range and thereby the bandwidth. In a similar
lyzed, integration of multiple methods has been proved to work reported in Reference 54, a triple-layered TA with
produce better results. Integrating multilayer elements into different elements on each layer produced 1-dB gain
subwavelength unit cells,45,46 the advantage of the lower bandwidth of 16.8%, the maximum gain of 25.8 dBi at
loss of multilayer structures and smaller cell size of sub- 12.4 GHz and 46.5% aperture efficiency.
wavelength structures are obtained. Using double-layered The bandwidth of the TA can be further improved by
elements with a periodicity of λ/4, 1-dB gain bandwidth of utilizing the resonating properties of frequency selective
19.1% is reported in Reference 46. This double-layered surfaces (FSSs). As it is well known that both bandstop
structure offers much reduced phase error in the order of and bandpass filters can be implemented using FSS layers,
21.16 , compared to that of 70.47 phase error observed in the TA elements were designed to produce resonances
single-layered structure. Combining the features of using BSFSS and band pass frequency selective surface
multiresonant structures and the phase delay lines, a 20% (BPFSS) in Reference 55. The phase range obtained using
1 dB gain bandwidth, 26.38 dBi gain, and 51.3% efficiency BPFSS is 525 with a −1 dB bandwidth of 13.5% and 38.4%
is obtained using double split rings connected to two phase aperture efficiency. Though the numbers of layers are
delay lines turned around the rings.47 In Reference48, the increased, the phase obtained using BSFSS is 598 with a
performance of true time delay lines, slots, and multilay- −1 dB bandwidth of 11.8% and 36.7% aperture efficiency.
ered structures are combined to obtain more than 30% As already discussed, a wide bandwidth is created by
bandwidth using a structure with four metallic layers sepa- a low slope of phase shift range. A low slope can be
rated by two dielectric layers and a strip line on third obtained by creating two widely separated notches. In all
metallic layer aperture coupled through a slot to the second the structures discussed so far, the separation between
metallic layer. The slot in the structure itself acts like a the notches was limited. In a three-layered TA,56 the
radiator in addition to coupling the electromagnetic wave. square wide slot of the unit cell created a notch at zero
To transmit high-density information using mode frequency and the stubs loaded at each layer, as shown in
multiplexing technique, an orbital angular momentum
(OAM) RA with subwavelength circular elements is
implemented in Reference 49. This array provided a max-
imum gain of 21.4 dBi calculated at 10.5 GHz with 31%
1 dB gain bandwidth.

3.2 | Broadband transmitarray

structures

TAs, though are advantageous than RAs in terms of feed

blockage issues, similar to RAs the bandwidth offered is lim-
ited to %5 or less. A single layer TA unit cell can provide
only a 90 shift regardless of the element shape.19 Hence by
using a single layer of printed elements, a full transmission
phase range of 360 cannot be obtained in TAs. Hence mul-
tilayered structures with geometrical variations in the ele-
ments are constructed to enhance the bandwidth of TAs in
various applications.19,50 But multilayered structures increase
the size, fabrication cost, and complexity of the array.
To reduce the number of layers used and also increase
the bandwidth of the TA structure, an array with concen-
tric double square ring elements51 and a triple-layered
array with spiral dipole elements52 are constructed. Using
spiral dipole elements, a 1-dB gain bandwidth of 9%, 30%
aperture efficiency and measured gain of 28.9 dBi was
obtained at 11.3 GHz. A similar result can be obtained FIGURE 9 Stub-loaded TA56 © 2017, IEEE
8 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

FIGURE 10 UWB TA cell57 © 2015, IEEE

FIGURE 11 Triband integrated65 © 2010, IEEE
Figure 9 created a controllable notch at the higher fre-
quencies. These two notches created a wide passband resonant structure with multiple feeds. A simple slotted
resulting in 15.5% of −1 dB gain bandwidth and overall circular patch with two-phase delay lines61 provides dual-
efficiency of 55%. band operation at X and Ku band frequencies. By varying
An ultra-wide band performance is observed in a TA the length of the delay lines, 500 and 800 phase ranges
structure given in Figure 10, where the slope of the trans- are obtained at 10.2 GHz and 22 GHz, respectively. A
mission phase was changed in terms of frequency.57 A bandwidth of 16% and 9.1% and measured gain of
maximum gain of 22.2 dBi and 20.1% 1 dB gain band- 26.2 dBi and 29.7 dBi are reported at these operating fre-
width are measured at 12.5 GHz. With the knowledge of quencies. A dual-band reflectarray operating at
various unit cell structures discussed briefly, it becomes 11.4-12.8 GHz for receive mode and 13.7-14.5 GHz for
very evident that there is a possible scope in improving transmit mode is presented in Reference 62. In this, dou-
the bandwidth of RA and TA by introducing innovations ble cross open loop elements are utilized in the design of
in the structures. the elements for the receive band and double square open
loops are used for the transmit band. The loop width and
gap between the loop elements are changed to improve
4 | STRUCTURES FOR MULTI the bandwidth of the RA. This structure provided a maxi-
BAND OPERATION mum gain of 40.6 dBi and 12% −1 dB gain-bandwidth. A
similar result producing LHCP and RHCP is obtained
Gaining a brief idea about narrow band and broadband with dual-split loop elements operated using variable
operations of RA and TA in the previous sections, their rotation technique (VRT)63 at 20 GHz and 30 GHz,
multiple beam performance can be analyzed in this sec- respectively. Phoenix elements reported in Reference 64
tion. Multibeam antennas have numerous applications in produced 14.0% 1-dB gain bandwidth at 10 GHz and 9.1%
satellite communication, broadcasting and coverage, and 1-dB gain bandwidth at 20 GHz. Combining the above
point-to-multipoint communications. In most wireless discussed elements as subarray structures as shown in
applications, the dual-band signals are obtained using Figure 11, a triband operation is explained in Refer-
various single-feed structures such as single layer dual- ence 65. The subarray structure includes a crossed
band elements,58 dual-layer dual elements, dual-band dipole element operated at 7.1 GHz (C band) based on
FSS backed structures,59 and single layer single element60 variable element size mechanism and slotted patches
with dual-band operation. operated at 32 GHz (Ka band) and 8.4 GHz (X band)
based on element rotation technique. A quad band RA
constructed with unit cells having four printed struc-
4.1 | Multiband reflectarray structures tures, each resonating at a different closely separated
center frequency such as 12, 13, 14, and 15.5 GHz is
Solutions for implementing multiple beam RAs include reported in Reference 66. This article reports 2.5%,
multiresonant structures with single feed and single 2.5%, 3.45%, and 4.16% of 3 dB gain bandwidth and
NARAYANASAMY ET AL. 9 of 22

25%, 16%, 30%, and 28% of aperture efficiency for the Following the discussion made in section 2 related to
four frequencies respectively. FSS, replacing the ground plane of a RA structure by FSS
In Reference 58, a single-layered microstrip square layer has proved to be a better solution for multiband
ring and patch element loaded with slots are varied to RAs. Cascading such FSS-based structures might provide
achieve a 530 linear phase range within X-band quad band and tri band results. The FSS structures pro-
(7.2-9.2 GHz) and 780 linear phase range within Ku- vided good isolation between the RA elements of differ-
band (12.2-14.2 GHz). A maximum gain of 23.4 dB, 17% ent bands. In Reference 63, an FSS backed RA with a
1-dB bandwidth calculated at 8.2 GHz and a maximum double square element resonating at 32 GHz (Ka band) is
gain of 25.7 dBi with 14% 1-dB bandwidth calculated at placed on top of metal-backed RA with square rings reso-
13.2 GHz are reported. The dual-band RA antenna nating at 8.4 GHz (X band). The variation in the gap
efficiency is 46.7% at X-band and 33% at Ku-band. A var- between the rings provided a smoother phase range vari-
iation in the single layer dual-band RA is explained in ation. The maximum gain of 30.5 dBi and 42% efficiency
Reference 60 by using novel integrated elements. This is measured at 32 GHz and a gain of 28.3 dBi, 60% effi-
integrated element has a circular ring, two concentric ciency is calculated at 8.4 GHz. A similar multilayer FSS
open rings and an I-shaped dipole as shown in structure with a concentric split ring using variable rota-
Figure 12. The parameters of the dipole and the gap tion technique operated at 30.2 GHz and modified Malta
between the open rings are varied to obtain the dual cross using variable element size technique resonating at
band operation. A 1-dB gain bandwidth of 5.5% 20.4 GHz are presented in Reference 68 as shown in
(8.7-9.2 GHz) with 17.8 dBi gain and 7.3% Figure 13. Operated at 20.4 GHz, the antenna produced a
(13.1-14.1 GHz) with 23.4 dBi gain are measured at the measured gain of 36.7 dBi with 64.1% of aperture effi-
two bands. ciency. The antenna produced 40.2 dBi measured gain
A more efficient dual-band right hand circularly with 65.4% aperture efficiency at 30.2 GHz.
polarized RA operating at 7.1 GHz (C band) and 32 GHz A simpler solution for multibeam antennas is using
(Ka Band) is developed and presented in.67 The upper C multiple feeds for the different frequencies. The elements
band layer and the lower Ka band layer are constructed in array structures may resonate at different frequencies
with different sized ring elements rotated in counter- due to the signal received from different feeds. In
clockwise directions to achieve RHCP. The ring elements Rererence,69 two feeds operating at X band and K band
proved to be much advantageous than rectangular pat- are used to illuminate circular patches with delay lines to
ches with orthogonal delay lines for circular polarization provide a wide phase range variation of 500 within 9.2
because they provide more space freedom for elemental to 11.2 GHz (X band) and 800 phase range within 21 to
spacing and little blockage between layers of different fre- 23 GHz (K band). 16% 1-dB gain bandwidth and 26.2 dBi
quency bands. Being operated at 7.3 GHz and 31.75 GHz, gain is reported at 10.2 GHz and at 22 GHz 9.1% 1-dB
highest efficiencies of 46% and 38%, respectively, are gain bandwidth and 29.7 dBi gain is measured. At
observed. 10.2 GHz, 47% efficiency is measured and, at 22 GHz
25%, efficiency is reported. The measured aperture effi-
ciency of above 47% across the receive band
(19.6-21.2 GHz) and 59% across the transmit band
(29.4-31 GHz) are obtained. Though the fabrication is
easy in multiple feed antennas, losses due to blockage
effects produced by the feeds reduce the performance of

F I G U R E 1 3 Frequency selective surfaces based split ring and

FIGURE 12 Dual-band integrated60 © 2014, IEEE Malta cross68 © 2017, IEEE
10 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

the array. Hence implementing multiresonant structures make the planar array antennas as the best choice for
for multi band operation proves to be advantageous. communication applications.

4.2 | Multiband transmitarray structures 5 | R E C O NF I GUR A B L E

STRUCTUR ES
In this section, TAs that exhibit multi band operation are
discussed. Multiple beams simultaneously obtained from In wireless communication applications such as mobile
single feed are more utilized in space, radar, SAR, MIMO, user tracking and object tracking, to enhance reception,
and millimeter wave applications. TAs that produces the antenna pattern needs to be adjusted dynamically.
such multiple beams has the added advantages of low This dynamic change in pattern implemented using
cost, light weight, and low profile aperture. phased arrays involved a complex feed network. To
A quad layer TA70 with double square loop elements reduce this complexity and cost in building up the feed
produced quad beams at 13.5 GHz with 50 elevation sep- network, the spatially fed antennas are utilized. Due to
aration between them. The measured gains of the four the electromagnetic properties of such antennas, the
beams are 23.8, 23.8, 22.3, and 22.6 dBi. A similar result characteristics of the incident EM waves are modified to
with 11% of −1 dB gain bandwidth and 25.2 dBi gain is perform beam steering, beam focusing, and polarization
reported in Reference 71 using a meta-atom based TA. A control. With independently tunable elements beam
dual-band TA for 12.5/14.25 GHz uplink and downlink steering may be done either by varying a single angular
frequency bands in satellite communications is proposed component theta (θ) (called 1-D beam steering) or by vary-
in Reference 72. By interlacing three-dipole elements as ing two angular components theta (θ) and phi (φ) (called
shown in Figure 14 at orthogonal polarizations in a 2-D beam steering). Multiple polarizations required in
three-layered structure, a 1 dB bandwidth of 7.2% and7% radar and communication systems applications can also be
is achieved in lower and higher frequency band; 31 and achieved using variable length delay lines attached orthog-
31.8 dBi gain with 45% and 41.3% aperture efficiency was onally to simple patches.74 Using two feeds and three lay-
measured. ered RA, beams with H-polarization and V-polarization
Recently, a berry phase TA73 as shown in Figure 15, was achieved in.75 Beam scanning or beam reconfiguration
with identical anisotropic unit cells having spatially vary- may be used in synthetic aperture radar (SAR), automotive
ing rotation angles was developed to produce multiple anti-collision sensors, Earth observation satellites, security
beams. This article reported a measured peak gain of scanners, and base stations.
30.2 dBi and 11.1% 1-dB gain bandwidth. The measured
peak aperture efficiency of the array is 50.2%. Compared
to the traditional HGAs, it is much evident from the dis- 5.1 | Reconfigurable reflectarray
cussions made that the RA and TA structures have a structures
good scope of various simple modifications to achieve
multiband operation. Hence, innovations are possible to Reconfiguration for dynamic beam forming using RAs
can be done by integrating elements such as varactor
diodes, PIN diodes,76,77 microelectromechanical systems
(MEMS)78 and ferroelectric phase shifters.79 Tunable

FIGURE 14 Dual-band interlaced dipole72 © 2018, IEEE FIGURE 15 Berry-phase TA73 © 2020, IEEE
NARAYANASAMY ET AL. 11 of 22

materials such as microfluidic structures, liquid crystals, phase shifter.86 The beam is steered to 45 in H-plane.
ferroelectric materials, graphene80 and FSS can also be In,87 a MEMS RA element is constructed with two single
utilized to achieve reconfiguration. layer pseudo ring elements backed by a ground plane.
A simple RA structure with two varactor diodes inte- Reconfiguration is achieved by loading the rings with
grated to the halved edges of every unit cell patch is pro- variable digital series MEMS capacitors. A 360 phase
posed in Reference 81. By properly choosing the range with 5% bandwidth is reported. A dual-band RA
dimensions of the patch and varying the varactor capaci- with split ring elements is made electronically tunable by
tance between its minimum and maximum values, phase sequentially rotating the elements using RF MEMS
range of 320.3 , scanning range of ±22.5 and 1.5% band- switches. In Reference 88, beam switching from broadside
width is measured at 5.5 GHz. A RA structure that has to ±35 and ± 24 is measured at 24.4 GHz and 35.5 GHz,
varactor diodes loaded to a transmission line aperture respectively. In Reference 89, the number of switches used
coupled to the patch82 produced beam steering upto 40 for reconfiguration is minimized by using gathered ele-
in H-plane at 5.4 GHz. The structure produced 370 ments in RA. Gathered elements are formed by combining
phase range and 2.2% bandwidth. two patches aperture coupled to delay lines using T-junc-
An RA patch with 1 bit phase shifter is electronically tion. Reconfiguration with 10% bandwidth is achieved by
controlled by loading a PIN diode to the short circuited varying the length of the delay lines by switching ON/OFF
stub attached to the patch76 as shown in Figure 16. The the MEMS switches connected to the lines.
PIN diode acts as an RF switch causing the change in the For operations above 100 GHz in spaceborne meteo-
input impedance of the stub in response to the ON and rological and atmospheric chemistry sounding instru-
OFF state of the diode. The main beams are scanned at ments, RAs using liquid crystals are developed as they
±25 in both azimuth and elevation at an operating fre- have no limitation on upper operating frequency.90 In
quency of 60 GHz with 41 dBi gain. A similar tuning cir- such cases, the patches are placed on the superstrate and
cuit on a layered structure with a slotted square patch the gap between the array and the ground plane is filled
produced 2D beam scanning within ±50 and 8.4% band- with liquid crystals. The permittivity of the tunable layer
width.83 The proposed structure operated at 5 GHz pro- changes with the bias voltage applied. Thus, the resonant
vided a measured gain of 19.22 dBi and 15.26% aperture
efficiency. In Reference 84, a polarization rotating unit
cell (PRUC) implemented with PIN diodes provided
polarization rotation by +90 and −90 . The beams are
scanned to 0 , θ = 45 at φ = 0 and θ = 45 at φ = 45 as
shown in Figure 17. This article reported a measured gain
of 24.4 dBi and 21.9% aperture efficiency.
Reconfiguration in RAs can be obtained using MEMS
switches85 shown in Figure 18 having properties such as
low power consumption, high linearity, low loss, and
FIGURE 17 2D-beam steering,84 © 2019, IEEE
high isolation. By electronically manipulating the
switching configurations of these switches at an operat-
ing frequency of 2 GHz, 150 phase swing is achieved.
This can be increased by using more number of MEMS
switches. Another simple reconfiguration structure is
built using a slot fed patch connected to a distributed

FIGURE 16 PIN diode,76 © 2011, IEEE FIGURE 18 MEMS switches,85 © 2012, IEEE
12 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

frequency, reflection phase, and amplitude changes with provide large phase range, large bandwidth, low reflec-
biasing voltage. Being operated at 102 GHz a phase shift tion and low insertion loss.2 Reconfigurable trans-
of 165 is reported in the proposed paper. A liquid mitarrays can be integrated into radomes for electronic
crystal-based RA that can be used as a sub-reflector in beamscanning or embedded into walls of structures.
dual-beam configuration is constructed in.89 This article Reconfiguration using TA is implemented either using
proposes a design insensitive of the angle of incidence layered scatterer approach or guided wave approach.
producing 8% bandwidth and 330 phase range. In Although the complexity of fabrication and occurrence of
another notable work91 liquid crystal-based recon- sidelobes due to a mismatch between reconfigurable
figurable RA has been implemented using folded reflec- phase shifter and antennas is more, the performance
tor model. The upper reflector is made as a liquid crystal offered by the guided wave approach is found to be a bet-
panel with the ground plane replaced by a polarizing grid ter solution.95 The reconfiguration is achieved using ele-
to enable reconfiguration. The antenna produced a phase ments such as varactors,96,97 PIN diodes,98-100 MEMS
range of 270 and beam steering to −6 , 0 , +6 and switches, microfluidics,101 and tunable FSS.102
−17 . The proposed structure operated at 78 GHz A very simple reconfigurable TA is constructed with
resulted in a measured gain of 25.1 dBi. A similar beam two microstrip patches on either side of a ground plane
scanning is achieved by implementing photo-induced coupled through a slot.103 A varactor on the slot and two
plasma inside the semiconductor substrate of the array.92 varactors connecting the halved patches acted as tunable
The required phase variation for beam scanning is intro- resonators producing a 245 phase range at 5.5 GHz. In
duced by varying the length of the slots printed on the sil- Reference 95 using a guided wave approach, two recon-
icon by changing the plasma profile using the optical figurable bridged-T phase shifters as depicted in
masks. A 310 phase variation is obtained using the Figure 19, along with a varactor diode are cascaded to
antenna at 30 GHz. produce 426 phase tuning at 4.86 GHz and scanning
A variation in the method of reconfiguring is pres- angles of −50 to 50 in both azimuth and elevation. The
ented in Reference 93 by implementing a completely two varying capacitors of the phase shifter are controlled
mechanically operated reconfigurable RA without using using single proximity coupled microstrip line feed. A
active elements. The patches are rotated at a progres- 10% bandwidth improvement is reported using stacked
sively increasing rates to achieve reconfiguration. The patches. An amplifier connected at the output of every
rotatable patches themselves act as phase shifters provid- phase shifting unit provides increased gain suitable for
ing beam scanning upto 10 . As another application of high-gain applications.104
reconfigurable RA, vortex radio waves are generated for A fully electronically reconfigurable TA with beam
MIMO systems at 1.6 THz using graphene-based struc- shaping and beam scanning capabilities is presented in98
ture.80 The vortex radio wave is an electromagnetic wave with 1-bit phase resolution. The array is made of four
with orbital angular momentum (OAM). In this case, the metal layers: active, biasing lines, ground plane and pas-
reconfiguration was achieved with fixed size patches and sive side. The transmission phase of the array is con-
varied chemical potential by changing the biasing condi- trolled using two PIN diodes integrated on the active side
tions. Similarly, reconfiguration based on varying the as shown in Figure 20. The patches on the active and pas-
material properties is demonstrated using sea water- sive layers are connected to the biasing lines through O
based reflectarray.94 The direction of the main beam pro-
duced by the RA is controlled by varying the water level
in the unit cell using electronic valves. This article reports
a maximum gain of 26.2 dBi at 740 MHz. Thus, beam
shaping and beam steering are easily implemented at low
cost using RA structures electronically tuned with vari-
ous switches and materials. The low profile of RA makes
it compatible with a variety of reconfiguring elements uti-
lized in a wide range of applications.

5.2 | Reconfigurable transmitarray

structures

The major challenges in implementing the reconfigurable

arrays are overcome using transmitarray structures that FIGURE 19 Varactor diode,96 © 2012, IEEE
NARAYANASAMY ET AL. 13 of 22

and U shaped slots. The beam was steered to ±70 and element rotation method. The rotatable elements are
±40 in H-plane and E-plane, respectively. THE 15.8% double-layered nested split rings which act as micro-
3-dB bandwidth and 22.7 dBi gain was measured at fluidic channels embedded in polydimethylsiloxane
10 GHz. A similar structure, with circular polarization (PDMS).101 The conductive regions of the rings are
control in addition, has been implemented by rotating formed by injecting a liquid metal and the split region is
the unit cells on the passive layer.102 By inverting the air. 0 - 360 continuous and linear phase shifting is
phases of 0 and 180 rotated cells, LHCP is obtained. A attained using this approach. A variation is introduced in
beam steering capability of ±60 and 20.8 dBi gain is reconfigurable TA by printing double circle meshed rings
achieved. Another two-dimensional beam scanning in on three layers of optically transparent polymeth-
the range of ±50 with 9.6% 3-dB gain bandwidth is ylmethacrylate (PMMA) substrates.108 The variation of
reported using a TA unit cell having two H-shaped slots the radius of the inner circle produces beam steering
and two PIN diodes105 integrated on U-shaped microstrip from −30 to +30 .The 25 dBi gain and 1.4 GHz of −1 dB
line. At an operating frequency of 12.6 GHz, 17.1 dBi gain gain bandwidth are calculated at 28.5 GHz.
was measured. Combining the effect of varactor diodes and PIN
Due to the dependency of the insertion loss on the diodes, a 420 to 430 phase range with 10% bandwidth is
ON resistance of the PIN diodes, MEMS switches106 reported in Reference 109. By tuning the varactor diodes
are used. Since MEMS have lower ON state resistance on the receiving side and the PIN diodes on the transmit-
(between 0.05 and 2 Ω), a lower insertion loss is mea- ting side switching between two orthogonal linear polari-
sured in the proposed paper. In Reference 107, a scan- zations is achieved. The antenna produced a directive
ning range of ±10 is achieved using a tunable FSS beam from −60 to +60 .
structure operated at 12 GHz. The two capacitive Similar to the RAs, material-based reconfigurable TA
layers and one inductive layer of FSS provide bandpass is developed with plasma tubes being used as directors to
operation. The barium-strontium-titanate (BST) sub- steer the beam upto 30 from the broadside direction. At
strate beneath the capacitive layer allows tuning 1.6 GHz, the paper110 reports antenna efficiency as
through the varactor diodes implemented on it. The 90.05%, 90.17%, 90.66%, and 90.65% for 0 , 10 , 20 and
BST is a ferroelectric material whose relative permit- 30 beam scanning directions, respectively.
tivity changes with the applied external field. Cascad- Polarization reconfiguration using TA is also elabo-
ing such FSS panels provide increased scanning range rated in certain cases that produce beams of opposite
and phase shift. polarization simultaneously. In achieving dual polariza-
Usage of varactors and PIN diodes/MEMS does not tion, the two important criteria to be taken care of while
provide continuous tuning due to limited switches. Their designing the antenna structures are phase resolution
other disadvantage is performance degradation because and polarization isolation. A solution for dual polariza-
of parasitic radiations from feed lines. These issues are tion with better isolation is discussed in.108 The unit cell
resolved using microfluidics based beam steering by presented in this article has identical patches on two

FIGURE 20 PIN diode,99 © 2013, IEEE FIGURE 21 Polarization control,109 © 2016, IEEE
14 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

FIGURE 24 Transmit-reflect array with PIN diodes,115 ©

2019, IEEE
111
FIGURE 22 Orbital angular momentum generation, ©
2018, IEEE
frequency. It is well evident from the performance analy-
sis of TAs discussed in the literature that further
improvement in results may be achieved by the use of
various conventional unit cell structures integrated with
multi-layer designs.

6 | T R A AN T E N N A

Antennas with bidirectional radiation patterns are uti-

lized in various modern wireless communication applica-
tions, such as microcellular base stations, tunnel relay
communications, indoor wireless communications, RFID
systems, etc. For some specific applications, a bidirec-
tional high-gain antenna (Bi-HGA) as given in Figure 23,
which simultaneously generates pencil beams in forward
and backward directions, is needed.
The design of such Bi-HGA can be divided into two
FIGURE 23 Bidirectional radiation,112 © 2018, IEEE types, with a constrained feeding network and those
with a spatial feeding network. A back-to-back multi-
layer microstrip array110 is a Bi-HGA with a con-
dielectric layers bonded with bonding film and coupled strained feeding network involves. But this structure
with a cross slot etched on the intermediate ground seems to be disadvantageous due to the utilization of a
plane. The dimensions of the patch and the cross slot are complex feeding network for a large-scale array, the
varied to obtain H and V polarized beams (Figure 21). A high insertion loss in the feeding network, and the
20% 3 dB gain bandwidth and 25.2 dBi and 25.4 dBi maxi- high fabrication cost. A TRA with a spatial feeding net-
mum gains for H and V polarization is measured, work was developed and presented in Reference 113.
respectively. The array has Babinet-inverted defected square slot
Similar to an RA, a TA antenna as shown in elements etched on a single-layer thin metallic sheet. It
Figure 22 can also be used to generate orbital angular is proved in this article, that a single-layer engineered
momentum (OAM) waves for optical manipulation, opti- surface can obtain a full 360 phase range of both
cal trapping and imaging. A back-to-back placed antenna transmitted and reflected fields by utilizing the bound-
structure with unit cells attached to orthogonal feeding ary continuity condition of the cross-polarized field
lines is proposed in Reference 109. The variation in the component. Based on the overall asymmetry of this
length of the feeding lines produced a 360 varying phase structure and the continuity boundary condition of the
response. The 26 dBi gain is at 13.8 GHz resonating cross-polarized field across the surface TXY = RXY. The
TABLE 2 Comparison of performance parameters of various RA structures

Frequency of Relative Scanning Aperture

Unit cell/ operation bandwidth range Gain efficiency Sidelobe Cross pol.
Element (GHz) Phase Range (%) (deg) (dBi) (%) level (dB) level (dB) Advantage Disadvantage
9 
Square patch 28 360 5 NA 31 54 −18 −22 Easy Lower bandwidth
NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

fabrication
FSS based13 10 >360 15.4 NA 26.26 42.87 — — RCS Max. gain slightly less
reduction due to leakage of FSS
GP
Active 10 360 10 NA 11 — −25 −37 Reduces Leakage of power
amplifier16 insertion
loss
Graphene 1.3 THz 290 15 NA 29.15 — — −35 Grating lobes Reduced gain
Based18 suppressed
Fractal11 5.8 397 18.6 NA 19.1 — −15.5 −30 Smaller Design complexity
element
spacing
Double cross 14 802 45.3 NA 24.9 35 — — Simple Reduced efficiency
loop116
U-shaped 9.65 Three cycles of 20 NA 36.3 60 −20 — Large phase Bandwidth limited by
TTD line39 360 range element, not by size
Phase delay 11.7 >500 18 NA 24 35 — — Large phase Reduced efficiency
line42 range
Meander 10 420 18 NA 56.5 28.2 −30 Large phase Ripples due to multiple
line43 range reflections
Phoenix 28 360 30.7 NA 19.2 — −10 — Light weight, —
Cell36 low CP
level
Integrated 14 599 50.75 NA 25.4 40 — −40 Good —
element116 bandwidth
Dual-band 13.5/9 360 7.4/5.5 NA 17.8/23.4 — −10.8/−9 −40 Interferences —
Integrated62 avoided
Tri band 32/8.4/7.1 360 /360 /336 — NA — — — — Smaller size —
integrated58
Quad band66 12/13/14/15.5 2.5/2.5/3.45/ NA 22/20/ 18/10/30/28 18/10/16/16 −30 Smaller size —
4.16 25.4/
26
(Continues)
15 of 22
 16 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

TRA achieves polarization conversion for both trans-

Parasitic resistance gets

mitted and reflected fields simultaneously. Though the
measured gain of the array is 25.5 dBi at an operating
Disadvantage
frequency of 10 GHz and the 1-dB gain bandwidth is

RF blockage
Not reliable
15% (9.3-10.8 GHz), the aperture efficiency of this Bi-

added
HGA is inherently low (15% for the measured transmit-
ted beam) due to two reasons:
—

-
1 The input energy is divided between co-pol and cross-
Higher phase

resistance
Advantage

Simple feed
efficiency

network pol, resulting in 3 dB loss;

avoided
Improved

biasing
Low loss
Parasitic
range

Simple
2 The cross-pol energy is divided between a transmitted
beam and a reflected beam, leading to another 3 dB
reduction.
Cross pol.
level (dB)

−35.6 As the radiation characteristics of this TRA are fixed,

−25

−25

−28

−20

a novel design with a current reversal mechanism is pro-

—

posed in Reference 114 to achieve 1-bit electronic phase

−16.1/−8.9/

controlling capability. A single-layer circular ring slot

level (dB)
Sidelobe

etched on a substrate-backed copper sheet was structured

−6
−16

−10

as a reconfigurable TRA phasing element. Symmetrically

—

placed two PIN diodes across the circular ring slot were
oriented in opposite ways as shown in Figure 24. The
efficiency
Aperture

64.1/65.4

asymmetric element structure formed effectively by the

47/59

PIN diode ON/OFF states makes it act as a linear polari-

15.26
(%)

zation converter. By switching the states of the PIN

-

diodes, the induced currents along the slot were excited

36.7/40.2

oppositely. This current reversal mechanism produces

29.7
(dBi)
Gain

19.22
26.2/

two quantized phase states with a 180 phase difference.

11.5

25.1

The measured gains of the transmitted and reflected

beams were 17.2 dBi and 15.4 dBi at 5.35 GHz with ±60
±35 /±24

+6 and
Scanning

−6 , 0 ,

− 17

two-dimensional scan ranges and 1-dB gain bandwidth is


range
(deg)

±22.5

±50

19% (4.85-5.85 GHz) for the transmitted beam and 22%


NA

NA

(4.55-5.75 GHz) for the reflected beam. A high cross-

polarization level was observed due to the utilization of
bandwidth

cross-polar fields and 1-bit phase quantization. But the

Relative

10.3/8.4

16/9.1

aperture efficiency of the array is only 8.2% for transmit-

(%)

1.5

8.4

ted beam and 5.4% for the reflected beam. Though much
work is not done in bidirectional HGAs using planar
Phase Range

arrays, as TRA is an integration of RA and TA, the con-

500 / 800

ventional and innovative designs of RA and TA can be


360 /350

utilized to achieve much better results for various bidirec-

320.3


200

120

270

tional wireless communication applications.

This review article has analyzed various designs and
performances of RA, TA, and TRA structures utilized in a
Frequency of

wide range of applications. A comparison of the results of

operation

30.2/20.4

24.4/35.5
(Continued)

RA as illustrated in the literature is made in Table 2.

(GHz)

10.2/

Table 3 presents the performance comparison of TAs dis-

5.5
22

78
5

cussed in the article. These comparison tables include

parameters such as frequency of operation, phase range,
Crystals90
PIN diode83
Dual feed69

relative bandwidth, scanning range in cases of

Unit cell/
TABLE 2

based81
Element

Varactor

MEMS88

reconfiguration, measured gain, aperture efficiency, side-

Liquid
63
FSS

lobe level, cross polarization level, advantages and disad-

vantages of various designs.
TABLE 3 Comparison of performance parameters of various TA structures

Relative Aperture
Unit cell/ Frequency of Phase bandwidth Scanning Gain efficiency Sidelobe Cross pol.
Element operation (GHz) range (%) range (dBi) (%) level (dB) level (dB) Advantage Disadvantage

Four-layered 11.3 360 4.2 NA 24.26 — — — — Misalignment
NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

double square error

slot20
Four-layered 13.58 360 7.4 NA 23.9 55 −16 −30 High efficiency, Misalignment
double split ring low sidelobe error
slot22
Two-layered malta 20 305 5.9 NA 33 40 −22.5 −28 Reduced Complex
cross23 thickness fabrication
Three-layered 29.5 360 11 NA 28.3 36.5 −16 −22 Good Complex
metal only bandwidth fabrication
cells24
Guided wave TA27 10 360 5.7 NA 23 41 −15 −19 Low profile Complex
fabrication
Three-layered 12.4 360 16.8 NA 25.8 46.5 — −31 Wideband Larger size
multiple performance
elements54
FSS layers55 12 525 13.5 NA — 38.4 −20 — Better phase —
range
Dual band72 12.5/ 14.25 360 7.2/7 NA 31/31.8 45/41.3 −25 −31/−33 Better phase Complex
range design
Varactor94 4.86 426 10 −50 to +50 — — — — Simple feed Parasitic
network resistance
PIN diodes97 10 360 15.8 ±70 H-plane 22.7 — −11.2 −12.3 No parasitic Insertion loss
±40 resistance occurs
E-Plane
Ferroelectric106 12 122 — ±10 — — — — Simple and cost Illumination
effective efficiency
less
17 of 22
18 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

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fluidics. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag. 2015;63(3):1163-1167. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
102. Di Palma L, Clemente A, Dussopt L, Sauleau R, Potier P,
Pouliguen P. Circularly-polarized reconfigurable trans- Kavitha Narayanasamy received her
mitarray in Ka-band with beam scanning and polarization
BE degree from Bharathiar Univer-
switching capabilities. IEEE Trans Antennas Propag. 2017;65
(2):529-540.
sity, Coimbatore in the year 2002.
103. Lau JY, Hum SV. Analysis and characterization of a multipole She received her ME degree from
reconfigurable transmitarray element. IEEE Trans Antennas Anna University, Chennai in the
Propag. 2011;59(1):70-79. year 2008. She has 12 years of teach-
104. Pan W, Huang C, Ma X, Luo X. An amplifying tunable trans- ing experience in reputed institu-
mitarray element. IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag Lett. 2014; tions around Chennai. She is currently undergoing
13:702-705.
22 of 22 NARAYANASAMY ET AL.

her PhD degree in Anna University, Chennai. She is a Ramprabhu Sivasamy received his
research scholar in the Department of Electronics and BE Degree in Electronics and Com-
Communication Engineering, SSN College of Engi- munication Engineering from Kongu
neering, Chennai. Her research interests are Anten- Engineering College affiliated to
nas, Electromagnetics, Communication engineering Anna University and ME from Anna
and signal processing. She is a reviewer of IET Micro- University Chennai. He received his
waves, Antennas & Propagation. PhD from Anna University for his
research work on Frequency Selective Surfaces. He cur-
Gulam Nabi Alsath Mohammed
rently serves as an Associate Professor in the Depart-
received his BE, ME, and PhD
ment of Electronics and Communication Engineering
degrees from Anna University Chen-
at Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering,
nai in the years 2009, 2012, and
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. His areas of interest
2015, respectively. He is currently
include Frequency Selective Surfaces, Electromagnetic
serving as an Associate Professor in
Shielding, and Microwave Components Design.
the Department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering, SSN College of Engi- Malathi Kanagasabai completed her
neering, Chennai, India. His research interests Bachelor of Engineering in Electron-
include Microwave Components and Circuits, ics and Communication Engineering
Antenna Engineering, Signal integrity Analysis, and and Master of Engineering in Micro-
Solutions to EMI problems. To his credit, he has filed wave and Optical Engineering from
12 patents and published several research articles on Madurai Kamarajar University. She
antennas and microwave components in leading received her PhD on “Analysis of
International Journals. He has also presented and Rectangular Shielded Stripline Enclosures” from
published his research papers in the proceedings of Anna University, Chennai. She currently serves as an
Inter-national and National conferences. He is cur- Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics
rently serving as an Associate Editor in IET Micro- and Communication Engineering (ECE), Anna Uni-
waves Antennas and Propagation. versity, Chennai. Her research interests are antennas,
UWB microwave components, electromagnetic
Kirubaveni Savarimuthu obtained
shielding, and signal integrity analysis in RF-printed
her BE and ME degrees from Anna
circuit boards.
University, Chennai. She currently
serves as an Associate Professor in
the Department of Electronics and
Communication Engineering, Sri
How to cite this article: Narayanasamy K,
Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of
Mohammed GNA, Savarimuthu K, Sivasamy R,
Engineering. She has 7 years of teaching and research
Kanagasabai M. A comprehensive analysis on the
experience. Her research interests include MEMS and
state-of-the-art developments in reflectarray,
NEMS device design and VLSI design. She currently
transmitarray, and transmit-reflectarray antennas.
involved in the growth of ZnO nanorods for piezoelec-
Int J RF Microw Comput Aided Eng. 2020;30:
tric energy harvester and gas sensor applications. She
e22272. https://doi.org/10.1002/mmce.22272
is an active life member in IETE.