Spacecraft Antennas

Some of the various categories of issues that must be considered in the selection and design of spacecraft antennas for a Personal Access Satellite System (PASS) are addressed, and parametric studies for some of the antenna concepts to help the system designer in making the most appropriate antenna choice with regards to weight, size, and complexity, etc. are provided. The question of appropriate polarization for the spacecraft as well as for the User Terminal Antenna required particular attention and was studied in some depth. Circular polarization seems to be the favored outcome of this study. Another problem that has generally been a complicating factor in designing the multiple beam reflector antennas, is the type of feeds (single vs. multiple element and overlapping vs. non-overlapping clusters) needed for generating the beams. This choice is dependent on certain system design factors, such as the required frequency reuse, acceptable interbeam isolation, antenna efficiency, number of beams scanned, and beam-forming network (BFN) complexity. This issue is partially addressed, but is not completely resolved. Indications are that it may be possible to use relatively simple non-overlapping clusters of only a few elements, unless a large frequency reuse and very stringent isolation levels are required.