Electrical and Mechanical Design of the AMOS Communication Antenna Subsystem

The design, development and test activities performed on the Ku-band antenna subsystem for the Israeli communication satellite AMOS are presented. Starting from AMOS mission requirements like service areas and EIRP in conjunction with mechanical con-straints imposed by the ARIANE 44 MINI SPELDA, the different steps of both electrical and mechanical antenna design optimizations during the development phase are summarized. The antenna gain, reflector diameter and focal length are the results of the trade-off analyses, done during the design phase. The antenna subsystem has been designed, manufactured and qualified by Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH (DSS), Germany, between 1992 and 1995. Its design has been verified by a number of qualification/acceptance tests starting at component level with tests demonstrating the performance of the mechanisms at different temperatures or with RF-tests of feed system components. Finally the test sequence culminated in overall subsystem tests, e.g. RF-pattern measurements in a Compact Test Range and hot/cold deployment tests of the reflector under thermal vacuum conditions.