Space Systems/loral, LLC

Rajan P Parrikar

Terry M Smith

Alan R Cherrette

Levent Ersoy

Ann N Tulintseff

Bruno W Hollenstein

A Ka-band horn for transmitting and receiving information between a ground station and a satelitte includes three sections. The throat segment of the horn is adapted for coupling to a feed and includes circular, alternating grooves and webs that are of a widening type created by linearly increasing the width of the grooves in the direction of the horn's aperture. The throat corrugations are for matching the impedance of adjacent sections of the horn. A middle segment includes an up-angle flare section and a down-angle flare section each having dual depth corrugations that enable the horn to achieve a near-HE11 mode at the aperture of the horn. The final segment of the horn is a truncated, smooth-walled, cone.

Hybrid horn for dual Ka-band communications

Feed horn apparatus for use in a multiple-feed antenna system. The present invention comprises a corrugated feed horn and an antenna array or cluster of feed horns arranged in a hexagonal lattice pattern. The feed horn comprises a hexagonal aperture formed by a circular-to-hexagonal transition section a corrugated section disposed adjacent to the circular-to-hexagonal transition section, a tapered section disposed adjacent to the corrugated section, and an input section having an input/output port disposed adjacent to the tapered section. The corrugated feed horn has good beam pattern symmetry, low cross-polarization, and sidelobe levels, along with an increased horn aperture area. As a result, the efficiency of the corrugated feed horn is improved by transitioning from a circular to the hexagonal aperture.

Multi-band corrugated antenna feed horn with a hexagonal aperture and antenna array using same

A dual polarized horn antenna that increases the efficiency of a square or rectangular aperture which may be used in situations where a high efficiency aperture is needed in a constrained space. The antenna has a body that is tapered from a first end to a second end, wherein the first end is smaller in cross section than the second end. A flange is formed around the periphery of the body adjacent to the first end. An opening is formed in the first end of the body. A tuning iris is preferably disposed in the opening that provides for impedance matching. An insert is disposed in the central tapered opening,adjacent to the second end that has a central cross-shaped tapered member. The central cross-shaped tapered member extends into the central tapered opening and forms a plurality waveguide passages that form a corresponding plurality of quadrants. A plurality of cross-shaped members are respectively disposed in the quadrants and extend a short distance into the central tapered opening. The antenna may be advantageously used where longer apertures are desired. The antenna has a radiating efficiency on the order of 97 percent.

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Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Rajan P Parrikar