The disposal of an equivalent network representation to characterize the frequency behavior of grounded periodic arrays of printed patches is here combined with the assistance of full-wave electromagnetic simulator to achieve a very efficient method for analysis/design. The basic restriction of the present procedure is that the frequency band cannot be extended much beyond the first fundamental resonant frequency of the scatterer. Although this limitation can be important in some cases, it covers a great number of practical situations. © 2014 European Association on Antennas and Propagation.