Profile reduction of folded transmitarray antenna using multiple feeders

In this paper, we introduce a novel design for a high-gain, low-profile quad-feed folded transmitarray antenna (FTA) to enable a more compact system. The proposed antenna system consists of a transmitarray, a reflectarray, and four identical planar microstrip U-slot patch antennas placed on the same surface of the reflectarray with an adjacent distance greater than 1λ. To compare the effectiveness of our design, we developed three different antenna array systems with the same aperture size: a single-feed transmitarray antenna (TA) system, the proposed quad-feed FTA system, and a single-feed FTA system. Our experimental results demonstrate that employing four symmetrical feeders with an adjacent distance of 3.2λ effectively reduces the height by about 76.7 % in comparison to the height of a single-feed TA, and by 30 % when compared to the height of a single-feed FTA. We also present the design, fabrication, and testing of a prototype of the proposed quad-feed FTA operating in the Ku-band. The measured results of the prototype confirm the effectiveness of our design.