Low Cost Multibeam Phased Array Antenna for Communication with

摘要

The U.S. Navy uses both military and commercial satellites for communication purposes. In the existing shipboard communications system, a separate antenna, most likely a reflector antenna, is used to communicate with each satellite. In the future, it is expected that these reflector antennas will be replaced by multi-function, low RCS (radar cross section) phased array antennas. In this report, we have designed (based on an existing method suggested by Amitay and Gans) a unique concept in which a single planar array (on a mobile earth station) can be used to communicate simultaneously with several geostationary satellites by generating multiple independent beams. These beams will need to be scanned in only one plane, thus reducing the number of phase shifters required for each beam. In the orthogonal plane, one or two hard-wired squints will be used to fix the beam position. This method will help to reduce the cost and complexity of phased array antennas on mobile earth stations.