Efficient phase-only synthesis of contoured-beam patterns for very large reflectarrays

Abstract

This article presents an efficient phase‐only synthesis method applied to contoured‐beam reflectarrays. The method, based on the intersection‐approach concept, provides the phase distribution of the reflected field that best suits the required gain‐pattern specifications. In order to avoid undesired local minima, several successive stages, in which the tapering on the reflectarray's edge is gradually increased, are carried out to reach a final suitable result. As an example of its capabilities, the coverage of Europe is successfully synthesized. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 14, 415–423, 2004.