Title :
Towards structural integration of airborne Ku-band SatCom antenna
Author :
Schippers, H. ; Verpoorte, J. ; Hulzinga, Adriaan ; Roeloffzen, Chris ; Baggen, R.
Author_Institution :
Nat. Aerosp. Lab. (NLR), Amsterdam, Netherlands
Abstract :
The paper describes research towards a fully structurally integrated Ku-band SatCom antenna. This antenna covers the complete receive band for aeronautical earth stations and DVB-S broadcast in Ku band (10.7 - 12.75 GHz). The antenna front-end consists of 32 tiles where each tile has 8×8 Ku-band stacked patch antenna elements. Optical True Time Delays (TTDs) in an Optical Beam Forming Network (OBFN) enable a squint free beam steering over the whole band to geostationary satellites. The Ku-band antenna itself covers the whole frequency band in input impedance matching and radiation pattern. The performance of a Ku-band antenna tile will be discussed. A design is presented for the structural integration of 32 tiles and the associated optical beam forming networks into a fuselage panel of an aircraft.
Keywords :
aircraft antennas; antenna radiation patterns; beam steering; impedance matching; microstrip antennas; satellite antennas; DVB-S broadcast; OBFN; TTD; aeronautical earth stations; airborne Ku-band SatCom antenna; aircraft; antenna front-end; antenna radiation pattern; fuselage panel; geostationary satellites; input impedance matching; optical beam forming network; optical true time delays; squint free beam steering; stacked patch antenna elements; structural integration; Aerospace electronics; Aircraft; Antenna arrays; Antenna measurements; Skin; aircraft antennas; antenna arrays; array signal processing; optoelctronic beam forming; satellite communication; structural integration;
Conference_Titel :
Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP), 2013 7th European Conference on
Conference_Location :
Gothenburg
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-2187-7
Electronic_ISBN :
978-88-907018-1-8
