Three-dimensional printed millimetre wave dielectric resonator reflectarray

Reflectarray antennas have attracted extensive attention due to their low loss, high gain, compact volume, and their excellent abilities to control the radiated beam. The use of dielectric resonators as the reflectarray elements minimises the ohmic loss and the coupling between elements. This study uses fused deposition modelling (FDM) three-dimensional (3D) printing rapidly prototyping a low cost and light-weight dielectric resonator reflectarray. The demonstrated reflectarray is composed of 625 3D printed dielectric resonator elements to control the reflected phase over the reflector surface. The total size is 12 × 12 cm2 and the mass is 67 g. Measurements show that this reflectarray provides 28 dBi gain at 30 GHz when offset fed by a Ka-band horn antenna. This work demonstrates the potential of FDM for millimetre wave (mm-wave) applications. The new 3D printing approach can be deployed for high-gain mm-wave antenna fabrication with significantly reduced labour time and material costs