Development of a Gimballed, dual frequency, space-based, microwave antenna for volume production

A dual-frequency, two-axis Gimballed, Microwave Antenna (GMA) has been developed by COM DEV and Motorola for commercial satellites. The need for volume production of over three hundred antennas at a rate of four per week, a compressed development schedule, and the commercial nature of the effort necessitated a paradigm shift to an 'overall' cost-driven design approach. The translation of these demands into antenna requirements, a description of the resulting GMA design, and examples of development issues are detailed herein.