Reflectarray-based Intelligent Reflecting Surface to Improve mm-Wave 5G coverage in outdoor scenarios

This work presents the use of a reflectarray panel as an efficient and low-cost solution to improve millimeter-wave coverage in 5G scenarios. A dual-polarized shaped-beam is designed to radiate a flat-top beam to cover a blind zone without coverage. The design is carried out using a phase-only synthesis considering the beam specifications for the outdoor scenario. Then, a single-layer reflectarray element is used to perform a design at 27.7 GHz. This element provides an angularly-stable phase response at the operational frequency with an independent phase control in each linear polarization. The reflectarray panel shows a stable gain and a low both side-lobe level and cross-polarization within 1 GHz bandwidth.