Trw Limited

Ronald Y Chan

Brent T Toland

L Dwight Gilger

Daniel R Lane

Vrage Minassian

Youn H Choung

Shinobu J Hamada

Alon S Barlevy

James S Hamada

A satellite antenna system employing a dual-band feed horn and dual-band beam forming network. The feed horn provides a common aperture for both satellite uplink and downlink communications signal. The feed horn includes corrugations on an inside surface defining two sets of alternating channels having different depths to create circularly symmetric beams for the uplink and downlink signals. The antenna system includes at least one reflector, where the reflector shape, position, and the configuration of the feed horn, is determined so that the mainlobe of the lower frequency downlink feed signal illuminates the entire reflector, and the mainlobe of the higher frequency uplink feed signal illuminates an inner portion of the reflector. The first sidelobes of the higher frequency feed signal illuminate the outer portion of the reflector so that the uplink and downlink antenna signals have the same beamwidth, and thus cover the same cell size on the Earth.

Dual-band equal-beam reflector antenna system

An antenna system for a satellite including a gimbal device, such as a bi-axial gimbal, that employs a first uni-axial gimbal providing movement in one direction and a second uni-axial gimbal providing movement in a perpendicular direction. The first gimbal is mounted to a platform bracket, which is part of a moveable platform. The first gimbal is also mounted to the second gimbal, and the second gimbal is mounted to a satellite bracket secured to the satellite. Both a receive antenna array and a transmit antenna array are mounted to the moveable platform. Therefore, movement of the first gimbal causes the combination of the receive and transmit antenna arrays to move in one direction, and movement of the second gimbal causes the combination of the receive and transmit antenna arrays to move in the perpendicular direction.

Single gimbal multiple aperture antenna

A deployable phased-array-of-reflectors antenna includes individual reflectors and feed arrays. Each feed array is disposed above a corresponding individual reflector. The individual reflector antennas are preferably disposed adjacent to one another (e.g., on a hexagonal lattice) to form a phased array antenna using the individual reflectors antennas as elements. Phase and amplitude control electronics are coupled to each reflector antenna to provide steering for the signal energy coupled between the reflectors and the feed arrays. Switching electronics are coupled to the feed arrays and selectively activate and deactivate beam forming clusters of feeds in the feed arrays. A method for generating a steerable antenna pattern couples signal energy through a beamforming section to form steered signal energy. Next, the method couples the steered signal energy between a phased array of reflector antennas. The method selectively activates a first feed cluster for a first reflector, a second feed cluster for a second reflector, and so on, until feed clusters are activated in all of the reflectors in the array. The method then couples the steered signal energy between the first and second feed clusters. The method subsequently activates and deactivates the feed clusters to reduce the impact of grating lobes in the total antenna pattern, or when a particular cluster attenuation has been reached.

Deployable phased array of reflectors and method of operation

Growing community of inventors

Torrance, CA, United States of America

Ronald Y Chan