Application of Knife-Edge Diffraction Theory to Optimize Radio Frequency Compatibility On-board a Satellite

摘要

Modern Earth observation satellites accommodate manifold combinations of Radio Frequency (RF) transmitters and receivers located at various positions on-board the satellite. To minimize the field strength generated by the Tx at the Rx position, one method is to shade the line of sight path by a metallic baffle leading to signal attenuation. This contribution shows the achievable attenuation in practical satellite design and compares the results obtained by field simulations to those obtained by a simplified model (knife-edge diffraction theory). Hereby, knife-edge theory has been expanded by inclusion of angle-dependent antenna gain. Due to the good agreement of the results, knife-edge theory can be used for first-order assessments and parameter studies. This approach minimizes the overall computation time and is currently used to optimize Radio Frequency Compatibility (RFC) on-board the future MetOp Second Generation (MetOp-SG) satellites.