Deployable Tightly Coupled Dipole Reflectarray for Small Satellites

An origami-based, dual-polarized, ultra-wideband (UWB) tightly coupled dipole reflectarray is presented for small satellite applications. The reflectarray is designed on a multilayer, rigid-flexible substrate for seamless and efficient unfolding during deployment. The presented concept takes advantage of the UWB performance offered by tightly coupled dipole arrays (TCDAs) while eliminating the need for feeding networks and coaxial cables. In this manner, complexity and weight are decreased. Notably, the design employs horizontal dipoles connected to meander delay lines to achieve a low-profile. Overall, the proposed unit cell design provides stable phase delays across the 0.7-2.25 GHz (3.2:1) band while maintaining VSWR< 2.