Unit Cells of Flexible Printed Graphene Reflectarray Antenna for Satellite and Microwave Communications

Flexible reflectarray are widely used as deployable antennas in the design of small satellites (weight about 320 kg) to reduce the weight and size characteristics. Modern flexible reflectarray antenna use metals as the conductive material. Graphene has unique properties that are suitable for flexible antenna systems - mechanical stability, low specific gravity and cost. This paper is the first to consider the possibility of using graphene as a conductive material in the design of unit cell elements of a reflectarray antenna in the GHz range: a patch element, a patch element with a ring, and a patch element with a delay line. The minimum values of the incident wave amplitude and the phase variation range for each element were -4.08 dB and 327.6 degrees, -19.63 dB and 684.73 degrees, -6.24 dB and 526 degrees, respectively. The comparison of the obtained characteristics of unit cell elements with similar silver elements is carried out. Comparison of the characteristics with the literature analogs showed that the printed graphene unit cell elements of the reflectarray antenna have satisfactory characteristics.