By Michael Forum Palvig
In order to push the communication bandwidth, satellites are increasingly closely spaced and employ frequency reuse at orthogonal polarizations. This puts strict requirements on the antenna systems to have low side lobe levels and low cross polarization. Offset reflectors have low side-lobe level and high gain, but the asymmetric geometry introduces cross polarization. Existing methods to mitigate this all increase system complexity and bulkiness.
In this project, an alternative solution will be further developed, namely the Matched Feed concept. Here, the high cross polarization introduced by the offset geometry is cancelled by introducing higher order modes in the feed antenna. Low bandwidth of existing designs have limited the use in practical applications. Accurate and efficient modelling methods as well as meta-surface technology will be employed to meet industry bandwidth requirements.
If the bandwidth of Matched Feed systems can be extended to match the performance of dual reflector designs, the technology will be very attractive for high performance applications.
Completed: 2018