A Self-Powered Electronically Reconfigurable Reflectarray Integrated With Solar Cells

Abstract

This letter presents a versatile reconfigurable reflectarray that integrates with solar cells. The solar cell serves as the reflectarray element and energy harvesting cell, simultaneously achieving dual functionalities, namely wireless communication and solar energy collection. By manipulating the PIN diodes at the phase shifter, each reflectarray element can achieve two phase states: 0° and 180°. This modulation method allows for 1-bit encoding of the reflectarray, facilitating precise beam-shaping characteristics. To demonstrate the practicality of this approach, a reconfigurable reflectarray integrated with solar cells was fabricated and evaluated. Optical experiments confirm its ability to harvest light energy, supplying dc power for reconfigurable reflectarray. The proposed self-powered technique has potential applications in green communication and expands the application of reconfigurable reflectarray.