An Accurate Technique for Calculation of Radiation From Printed Reflectarrays

The accuracy of various techniques for calculating the radiation from printed reflectarrays is examined, and an improved technique based on the equivalent currents approach is proposed. The equivalent currents are found from a continuous plane wave spectrum calculated by use of the spectral dyadic Green's func­tion. This ensures a correct relation between the equivalent elec­tric and magnetic currents and thus allows an accurate calcula­tion of the radiation over the entire far-field sphere. A comparison to DTU-ESA Facility measurements of a reference offset reflec­tarray designed and manufactured specifically for this purpose is presented to demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed technique.