Phased Array Shaped-Beam Satellite Antenna with Boosted-Beam Control

Abstract

This communication presents a beamforming shaped-beam satellite (SBS) antenna based on a phased array technique and a boosted-beam control. The presented SBS antenna is specifically designed to cover the whole regions of Korea including the southern and northern areas. The proposed SBS antenna consists of waveguide feed network, beamforming circuits, waveguide circular polarizers, 19 radiation elements, and a boosted-beam control panel with active component calibration for temperature variation. To maximize the flexible performance, boosted-beam mode is supported to meet the required high-power signal regardless of bad weather conditions. The adjustable effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) range was around 6 dB and there are a total of 19 beamforming units each configured by drive amplifier, phase shifter, and attenuator. Also, one extra beamforming unit synchronized with the other 19 elements is integrated for active component calibration. Each beamforming element can control relative phase shift up to 360° with 5° step and relative amplitude variation up to 10 dB with 1 dB step as well. Also, each radiation element is configured by waveguide horn and the return losses were better than 25 dB at 21 GHz. © 1963-2012 IEEE.