Title :
Antenna power test means recent developments
Author :
Guémas, Philippe ; Leroy, Sylvain ; Sinigaglia, Jérôme ; Féat, Christian ; Mader, Philippe ; Labourdette, Claude ; Lepeltier, Philippe ; Lopez, Jean-Marc
Author_Institution :
Antenna Dept., Thales Alenia Space, Toulouse, France
Abstract :
This paper presents recent developments of Thales Alenia Space Toulouse Antenna Power Test Means. Due to the telecommunication satellite payloads RF power increase and its consequence over the space antennas that must handle the relating power , new power test means must be developed or existing ones must be up-graded. Power test means cover power handling, passive intermodulation products and multipaction testing capabilities. First of all RF power injection sub-system must answer to the test power needs. That means power amplifiers number increase with power combiners to be designed and manufactured and/or development of dedicated solutions based on frequency selective ring resonator. An example of this last alternative will be presented in the case of a multipaction test required by our customer EUTELSAT in the frame of a Kuband antenna program. The power required at device under test interface was greater than 8 kW to offer sufficient margin relating to an antenna primary feed qualification model. To minimize thermal constraints over test bench components by reducing RF average power, pulsed mode has been performed. It also has to be noted that a new radiated RF power splitter inside the thermal/vacuum chamber has been developed to be capable of handling this kind of new power needs. For this test multipaction detection methods studied and validated in the frame of TCS21 CNES studies and compatible with ECSS standard have been operated.
Keywords :
antenna feeds; antenna testing; intermodulation; microwave antennas; microwave power amplifiers; microwave resonators; microwave switches; power combiners; satellite antennas; ECSS standard; Ku-band antenna program; RF average power reduction; RF power injection sub-system; TCS21 CNES; Thales Alenia Space Toulouse antenna power test means; antenna primary feed qualification model; device under test interface; frequency 12 GHz to 18 GHz; frequency selective ring resonator; multipaction detection methods; multipaction test; multipaction testing capabilities; passive intermodulation products; power amplifiers; power combiners; power handling; radiated RF power splitter; space antennas; telecommunication satellite payloads; test bench components; thermal chamber; thermal constraint minimization; vacuum chamber; Discharges (electric); Feeds; Harmonic analysis; Optical ring resonators; Power harmonic filters; Qualifications; Radio frequency;
Conference_Titel :
Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics (ANTEM), 2012 15th International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Toulouse
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-0290-6
DOI :
10.1109/ANTEM.2012.6262398