From Inverse-Source Problems to Reflectarray Design - An Innovative Approach for Dealing with Manufacturing and Geometrical Constraints

An innovative approach for dealing with manufacturing and geometrical constraints in the design of reflectarrays is presented. Towards this end, the synthesis of the reflectarray surface currents is formulated as an inverse-source (IS) problem in order to exploit the non-uniqueness of the solution due to the presence of non-radiating (NR) terms. Differently from state-of-the-art methods, such a design paradigm allows to take into account specific constraints when designing the surface currents radiating the desired pattern. Some illustrative examples are shown in order to show the effectiveness and the flexibility of the proposed approach.