Multiple beam communicating satellites with remote beam steering and beam shaping

Multiple beam phased arrays are shown to enhance the performance of several anticipated geostationary communications satellite programs because of the greater efficiency and flexibility of the phased array. It is shown that the efficiency of arrays can be significantly greater than corresponding multiple feed dishes and that the problems of crossover loss and performance degradation with parts failures are thereby avoided. On an open loop basis, it is shown that a multiple beam array can provide higher EIRP over a coverage area. On a closed loop basis, it is shown that an adaptive array can provide nulling of unwanted signals while simultaneously providing gain in the direction of a desired signal.