The Boeing Company

John Pong Lim

Yong U Kim

Andy G Laquer

A space-fed, flat, reflectarray antenna apparatus for providing a desired degree of phase shift to a received electromagnetic wave to form a narrow beamwidth signal. The reflectarray antenna, in one form, is provided as a dual reflection antenna having a polarization sensitive subreflector and a reflectarray element spaced apart from the subreflector. The reflectarray element includes a large plurality of independent patch antenna units which each form antenna cells. Each patch antenna unit includes a vertical polarization sensitive antenna, a horizontal polarization sensitive antenna and a microstrip transmission line conjoining the two antennas. The microstrip transmission line of each antenna unit has a predetermined length intended to provide a predetermined degree of phase shift. Each patch antenna unit provides a polarization twist function to cause vertical polarization received by the vertical polarization sensitive antenna to be retransmitted by the horizontal polarization sensitive antenna as a horizontally polarized signal. Advantageously, the antenna is adapted for the insertion of MEMS phase shifters to provide for an electronically scanned antenna.

Growing community of inventors

Anaheim, CA, United States of America

John Pong Lim