Lower-cost architectures for large arays of small antennas

Future plans for NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) call for the construction of arrays of small antennas to compliment and eventually replace the existing network of large single antennas. The motivation for this transformation is the need to support much higher downlink data rates in the future, along with the realization that the most cost-effective way to do this is though a large increase in total collecting area on the ground. As currently designed, the DSN arrays will consist of approximately four hundred 12-m diameter antennas at each of three longitudes, operating at X and Ka bands (8 and 32 GHz).