Title :
Multi-beam lens-reflector for satellite communications: Construction issues and ground plane effects
Author :
Thornton, John ; White, Andy ; Gray, Derek
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electron., Univ. of York, York
Abstract :
A two-layer hemispherical lens is reported which, combined with a ground plane, comprises the focusing aperture in a multi-beam scanning antenna. The 61 cm diameter lens was fabricated from polyethylene and polystyrene dielectrics. The finite ground plane introduces a scanning loss since its truncation effectively reduces the aperture area: the effect becomes significant at low elevation angles. This scanning loss was investigated from a theory for the aperture plane distribution; measurements with the lens; and numerical modeling using the commercial solver FEKO. The lens gain is 35.5 dBi at 11.5 GHz, equivalent to a dish of similar area.
Keywords :
dielectric bodies; lens antennas; multibeam antennas; reflector antennas; satellite communication; scanning antennas; ground plane effect; multibeam lens-reflector scanning antenna; polyethylene dielectrics; polystyrene dielectrics; satellite communication; size 61 cm; Apertures; Dielectric losses; Fasteners; Lenses; Loss measurement; Phased arrays; Polyethylene; Satellite antennas; Satellite broadcasting; Satellite communication;
Conference_Titel :
Antennas and Propagation, 2009. EuCAP 2009. 3rd European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Berlin
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4753-4
Electronic_ISBN :
978-3-00-024573-2
