Realising personal SATCOM antennas

Designing a constellation of low orbiting satellites with lowered orbits, higher radiated powers and complex beam shaping are obvious ways of making existing types of personal handset antennas practically realisable. An obvious question is whether or not the requirements for personal satellite terminals are much different from existing personal mobile antennas for cellular networks. The article begins with a scrutiny of the generic mobile personal antenna configuration from which we can deduce the fundamental engineering issues and problems that are, or are not, common to both cellular and satellite systems. It expands on these fundamental problems to highlight the difficulties and how the latter can be reduced by design and trading off one effect for another. The aim is not only to summarise these design issues but to explain how they interact with one another and also relate to the various communication applications. Equipped with this information one is in a good position to appreciate the sort of antenna designs that are available at a research stage and their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the article sums up on what has been achieved, what remains to be optimised and what the prospect of further advances in design might be