This article describes the development of a novel Ka-band array fed reflector antenna based on a passive multifeed-per-beam (MFPB) beamforming network (BFN) to realize multiple shaped beams for ...broadband satellite communications applications. The feeding array is organized in non-regular overlapped sub-arrays (OSAs) in order to generate contiguous shaped beams in two polarizations with a single reflector. The main novelty is the generation of the non-regular multibeam coverage with differently shaped beams which equalizes the traffic demand per beam as generated by a non-uniform distribution of users over the satellite coverage. The entire feeding array is organized in two interleaved and partially overlapped groups of sub-arrays, one per polarization, to better satisfy the beam overlap requirements and isolation between co-polarized beams. A complex BFN has been developed as a monolithic component through a 3-D additive manufacturing (AM) technique. The test campaign demonstrated the suitability of the design approach and the accuracy of the selected manufacturing technique for the Ka-band frequencies, with a good correlation between measured and simulated results.
In the paper the development of a fully electronic transmit-receive phased-array antenna system in Ku-band for aircraft communications via satellite is presented. Particular emphasis has been placed ...in the improvement of the following key elements: a dual-polarization self-diplexing radiating element, a transmit/receive active module with full polarization agility based on a digital vector modulator and a SiGe multinode MMIC. The optimized antenna elements enable a significant improvement towards the realization of a future affordable commercial product for satellite communications.
The results obtained in the frame of the ESA activity “Advanced Antenna Concepts For Aircraft In Flight Entertainment” are presented. The aim of the activity consists in designing an active antenna ...able to guarantee the Ku band link between an aircraft and a geostationary satellite in order to provide in flight entertainment services. The transmit-receive antenna generates a single narrow beam to be steered electronically in a half sphere remaining compliant with respect to stringent requirements in terms of pattern shape, polarization alignment, EIRP, G/T, and using customized electronic devices. At the same time, the proposed solution should be competitive in terms of cost and complexity.
The paper describes a novel multibeam antenna configuration for high-throughput satellite communications. The spatial traffic demand is assumed proportional to population distribution and is balanced ...at payload level using a Voronoi diagram-based approach. This approach optimizes beam coverage and traffic per beam while minimizing co-channel interference. The non-regular multibeam coverage is obtained by means of a focal array fed reflector (F AFR) with a passive multi-feed-per-beam (MFPB) beamforming network. An innovative strategy is described for sharing feeds in sub arrays while reducing complexity of the beamforming network (BFN). The FAFR-MFPB antenna configuration is applied to a 70 beams scenario and advanced 3D additive manufacturing techniques are demonstrated to create the complex BFN.
Active Multibeam Antennas based on Rotman Lens Arrays Jankovic, Petar; Galdeano, Jaione; Hrubo, Gergely ...
2019 IEEE International Symposium on Phased Array System & Technology (PAST),
2019-Oct.
Conference Proceeding
Emerging Very High Throughput Satellite (VHTS) systems require advanced payload and antenna architectures able to provide a high number of simultaneous beams operating on large frequency bandwidths. ...Beamforming network (BFN) compatible with a high number of beams and radiating elements represent the key building block for these antenna systems. In this paper, Rotman Lenses are investigated for large scale BFNs. They offer advantages in terms of scalability, true-time delay characteristics. One of the main challenge is the minimization of the overall losses. Numerical results (based on ray tracing and full wave electromagnetic techniques) will be presented and compared with experimental results.
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