A Novel Technique for Beam-Aberration Correction and Fast Conical Scan in Deep-Space Antennas

This paper presents a high performance technique for beam aberration correction and fast conical scan in beam-waveguide antennas. This novel technique has been developed in the case of ESA Deep-Space Antenna 2, and consists in moving part of the lower beam-waveguide feed system. The proposed methodology is validated by comparing its performance with two other techniques found in the literature, in terms of physical optics simulation results. It will be shown how the novel approach allows for higher beam steering, while keeping very low antenna gain degradation.