Wideband Reflectarray Design for CubeSat Applications in X-Band

This paper reports on the design of a reflectarray for CubeSat applications. In an effort to industrialize the concept, a wideband unit cell is selected to cover a significant part of the X-band, corresponding to identified use cases for the technology, specifically the band 7-10 GHz. A modular approach with panels of about 6U in size is selected. The nominal configuration uses 3 panels with a two-step deployment sequence. It is designed to provide a gain higher than 26 dBi across the operating bandwidth with adequate tuning of the unit-cell layout. More panels may be added to achieve higher gain values, at the expense of a more complex deployment sequence. A key aspect of the design is the unit-cell. Numerical results are reported, confirming its stability across the targeted bandwidth. A preliminary design of a 3-panel reflectarray is also provided, confirming the good focusing properties of the proposed configuration.