Mechanical implications of higher frequency working in satellite communication ground based antenna systems

Mechanical design and manufacturing techniques, appropriate to C-Band working have been successfully developed and refined over the years. But these techniques are questionable when applied to Ku-Band working, and are more often than not totally inappropriate for Ka-Band systems. Inevitably the designer is faced with the requirement for greater accuracy of reflector surface. This increase in accuracy combined with the need for greater care in selection of materials and the tighter budget allowable for environment distortion more than offsets the advantages gained by reduction in size. This is particularly true when dealing with combined transmit and receive systems