A Distributed Power-Amplifying Reflectarray Antenna for EIRP Boost Applications

The distributed power-amplifying capability is investigated to improve the effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of reflectarray antennas. For experimental verification purpose, a C-band power-amplifying reflectarray with 12 × 12 elements is designed and fabricated, where the aperture-coupled patch element with orthogonal H-shaped slots and an integrated power amplifier is employed. Element simulations show that the reflection coefficients are below -10.0 dB and the isolation is better than 31.8 dB for various lengths of microstrip line and oblique incident angles at the design frequency of 5.8 GHz. The measured results of the reflectarray prototype show that well-defined radiation patterns are achieved, with the measured active gain of 37.4 dBi and the measured directivity of 27.3 dBi. The nonlinearity performance of the prototype is also analyzed and measured. The measured input power at 1 dB compression point (P1dB) is 24.8 dBm, with an EIRP of 61.2 dBm.