Monopulse tracking feed system for next Q/V-band applications

This paper deals with the design and test activities concerning the development of a novel Ka/Q/V-Band Feed System, devoted to operate in a 4.2 m Earth Station Antenna, included in ground segment of ALPHASAT satellite, hosting four Technology Demonstration Payloads, aiming to expand existing global mobile networks. Starting from the feed chain architecture, the paper describes the design flow of main waveguide feed components, detailing the applied solutions in order to comply with the underlying system requirements. In particular a description of the monopulse tracking network, able to provide both ΔAZ and ΔEL single-channel quadrature errors for auto-tracking, and independent beacon signal at the same frequency for experimental purposes, is included. The theoretical and experimental radiation patterns comparison is reported, showing satisfactory characteristics in far-distant bandwidths.