The TDRSS 18.3-Meter Ku-Band Antennas

Three 18.3 meter diameter Ku-band antennas have recently been completed as part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Ground Station at the NASA Johnson Space Center, White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, U.S.A. These antennas, which are believed to be among the largest Ku-band satellite communications antennas to date, exhibit directivities in excess of 68 dBi and half power beamwidths of less than 0.08°. Additional performance requirements include autotrack accuracies of greater than 0.01°, frequency reuse, and suppressed intermodulation products (IMP). This paper describes some of the design, analysis, and measurement techniques which were used with these high-gain antennas.