PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
The project is aimed to develop a Ka-Band transmit antenna concept able to handle a high number of beams with flexibility-oriented capabilities such us power allocation, null fixing or beam hopping.
It involved a first step of market prospect in order to consolidate the requirements and tailored them to the market needs. After a study of several possible antenna architectures, a lens-based antenna was selected and all its subsystems were preliminary designed.
The most critical elements were fully designed and bread-boarded, and a demonstrator of the concept was designed and built. The results of the RF tests conducted showed good results and correlation between simulations and measurements.
The main objective of the activity was to develop a Transmit Ka-band antenna concept able to handle a high number of steerable spot beams with broadband capability to cope with near-future market needs for systems using DVB-S2 or beam hopping. This objective was broken down into the following points:
- To consolidate the requirements of a transmission multibeam DRA antenna that can cope with near future missions.
- To propose different antenna configurations that can cope with the previous requirements. It includes the survey of technological solutions for the various subassemblies.
- To do a preliminarily design of the subsystems of the selected DRA architecture and to fully design those identified as critical.
- To define a demonstrator of the selected architecture.
- To design, manufacture and test the antenna demonstrator.
- To update, based on the testing results, of the DRA performances.
- To update, based on the antenna capabilities, the market study and define a road map.
Challenges
This activity has allowed the development of a transmit array antenna architecture able to handle a high number of steerable spot beams with broadband capability and flexible power allocation, among other flexibility-oriented capabilities.
Additionally, with the aim to develop a commercially-oriented product, special attention was payed to the minimization of two critical points of a DRA: mass and consumption. Thermal management was also carefully addressed together with efficiency, dissipation and power distribution (bias of the amplifying elements).
The selected configuration optimises the performances in the main quality factor (ERIP) while minimizing the number of controls needed to handle the required number of beams.
Plan
n/a
Current Status
Completed.
Now that the concept has been evaluated and its performance verified thought a DM testing, the next step should cover the selection of flight components and qualification of units, followed by a PFM production for a flight opportunity.
Several mission scenarios in which a DRA antenna could solve the market necessities have been identified and are under investigation to find a flight opportunity.
