Weight optimization method for array-fed reflector antennas used for multibeam satellite communications

This paper focuses on the efficient use of the output power of amplifiers in array-fed reflector antennas. The authors propose a new weight optimization method for array excitation to attain the power flexibility. In this method, only the phase weights are optimized for beams which have a high traffic capacity and strongly affect the total output power. The same amplitude weight distribution is set for each of these beams. For other beams, both the amplitude and phase weights are optimized. This paper also describes a weight optimization algorithm that allows such weight distributions to be obtained. The analytical results of this study show that a high power efficiency is achieved by using this optimization method.