Highly reliable & adaptive SMART phased array antenna with gain adjustment & beam forming capabilities for space applications

This paper discusses design & measurement techniques for highly reliable, adaptive & SMART electronically steerable phased array antenna with gain adjustment & beam forming capability for space applications. Complexity of feeding network for phased array antenna has been reduced by many folds with the use of 16 independently coaxial fed circularly polarized truncated corner patch elements in sequentially rotated configuration providing an excellent axial ratio of <;0.1 dB for entire array highly recommended for satellite communication. Independent element digital control enables the options for beam steering through phase shifters, gain adjustment, & combinations of multiple adaptive beam generation discussed in detail. The chains from transmitter to antenna for beam steering network have also been discussed. Reliability analysis through antenna measurements show degradation in gain is less due to failure of elements as compared to other antennas. Phased array antenna has been simulated & optimized on Ansoft HFSS v11.