Lightweight adaptive antennas for EHF payloads

In an antijam military satellite communications system, the service provided by a geosynchronous altitude satellite can be significantly enhanced through the use of lightweight, adaptive EHF antennas to provide theater coverage. The communications capabilities provided by payloads with these EHF antennas can include both low data rate services (75 to 2400 b/s per channel) and medium data rate links (with rates up to ~1 Mb/s per link). Through the use of EHF waveform standards, the EHF payloads will be compatible with existing and planned EHF terminals. The adaptive antennas on these payloads can be utilized to provide both variable-coverage spot beam patterns and autonomous nulling capabilities. With this type of antenna system, the coverage pattern can be adapted to match changing force deployments and to eliminate interference sources. One of the significant technology challenges is implementing these adaptive antennas in lightweight, compact configurations which enable their use in a variety of payloads