Directivity optimization of a reflector antenna with cluster feeds: A closed-form solution

The directivity of a reflector antenna deteriorates as the feed moves away from the focal point for beam scanning. This deterioration can be substantially reduced if a cluster feed instead of a single feed is used to control a beam. A closed-form solution is presented for the cluster excitation to achieve the optimum directivity. For an offset108 lambdaparabolic reflector scanning 10 beamwidths, the optimum-directivity achieved by a 19-element (seven-element) cluster is 12 dB (8 dB) higher than that of a single element. Comparison of the optimum-directivity design and the popular conjugate field matching design is made. When the cluster spacingdis greater than1 lambda, it is found that the optimum directivity is higher than that of conjugate field matching (CFM) scheme by an insignificant amount, although the excitations of two designs can be quite different. Ford < 0.5 lambda, the optimum design may exhibit the supergain phenomenon, namely, extremely high directivities achieved by an oscillatory cluster excitation.     

Impulse-radiating antenna with an offset geometry

An offset impulse-radiating antenna (IRA) is numerically analyzed and compared with a typical centered IRA. In the typical centered IRA, the transverse electromagnetic (TEM) feed arms block the aperture because they are located at the center of the aperture. This blockage causes multiple reflections inside the antenna and, thus, ripples in the tail of the radiated waveform. In the offset IRA, the TEM feed arms are removed from the aperture, lowering the tail ripples caused by multiple reflections between the TEM feed arms and the reflector. The boresight gains and the impulse amplitudes are seen to be essentially the same for both IRAs. The monostatic radar cross section of the offset IRA is significantly lower than that of the centered IRA for the plane wave incident from the boresight direction because the wave incident to the offset IRA is diverted toward the focal point of the reflector, which is away from the boresight direction. The offset IRA has a shadow behind the reflector. This feature can be useful in bistatic radar applications because the antennas can be placed in the shadows of each other.     

Leaky Wave Enhanced Feed Arrays for the Improvement of the Edge of Coverage Gain in Multibeam Reflector Antennas

The performance of multibeam focal plane arrays feeding a single aperture is usually reduced due to conflicting requirements on the feed elements. Dense packing is usually required to minimize the beam separation, while typically large feed apertures are needed to provide the high feed directivity to reduce spillover losses from the reflector. In this paper the use of dielectric super-layers to shape the radiation pattern of each feed is demonstrated. The shaping is obtained by exciting, according to design, a pair of TE/TM leaky waves. The spillover from the reflector is reduced without physically increasing the dimensions of each single element aperture. A prototype of a feed array composed of 19 waveguides arranged in a hexagonal lattice was designed, manufactured and tested. The measured embedded patterns provided an increase of the edge of coverage gain, with respect to the free space case, of at least 0.6 dB in an operating bandwidth (BW) of ap12%. Moreover when reactive loading of adjacent feeds is adopted the increase in the edge of coverage with respect to the free space case was demonstrated to be larger than 1.6 dB over a 3% BW.     

Gaussian beam techniques for illuminating reflector antennas

Simple design procedures are presented for use when a Gaussian beam is used to illuminate a classical reflector antenna. Displacement of the location of the beamwaist toward the focusing element in the case of electrically small antennas where the aperture is in the near field of the feed was calculated together with modification of the required beamwaist radius. Dual reflector antennas were discussed and design procedures appropriate for systems with large and small focal length to diameter ratio developed. Cases where a reflector or subreflector is electrically small, or in the near field of a feed, are readily treated. For elliptical beam antennas, a simple illumination system using only a scalar horn and a single cylindrical lens can generally be found; this has no ray optics analogue. A configuration of this type is discussed, with a practical case study of a 28-by-80-λ elliptical Cassegrain antenna operating at a wavelength of 3 mm. The design process for designing the feed system is discussed in detail. Despite the small size and relatively large aperture blockage, an aperture efficiency of 0.48 was measured, which compared quite well with the expected efficiency of 0.53, thus verifying the validity of the Gaussian beam design approach     

The analysis of deployable umbrella parabolic reflectors

The radiation characteristics of an umbrella-type reflector are studied in detail. When the supporting ribs of the quasiparabolic reflector are parabolic in shape and the surface between any two adjacent ribs is the surface of a parabolic cylinder, the deviation of the surface from the true parabolic shape has the effect of spreading the focal point of the parabolic reflector into a focal region, the limits of which can be calculated from the knowledge of the reflector parameters. The best feed position can be accurately determined by requiring that the phase error over the surface be minimized. For the cosine to the powernillumination, numerical results showing the gain degradation, the shift in optimum focal point, and the change in secondary patterns, due to the deviation of the reflector surface from the true parabolic surface, are presented.     

Beam diffraction by planar and parabolic reflectors

In the complex source point technique, an omnidirectional source diffraction solution becomes that for a directive beam when the coordinates of the source position are given appropriate complex values. This is applied to include feed directivity in reflector edge diffraction. Solutions and numerical examples for planar strip and parabolic cylinder reflectors are given, including an offset parabolic reflector. The main beams of parabolic reflectors are calculated by aperture integration and the edge diffracted fields by uniform diffraction theory. In both cases, a complex source point feed in the near or far field of the reflector may be used in the pattern calculation, with improvements in accuracy in the lateral and spillover pattern lobes     

A scattering matrix-based beamformer for wide-angle scanning in hybrid antennas

This paper presents a new approach to beamforming in hybrid antennas. Using a scattering matrix model for the hybrid antenna system, a bidirectional transformation is developed that relates the signals at the hybrid system feed to the signals that would be present in a planar array at the location of the reflector aperture. For example, the received fields at the feed of a hybrid antenna system may be transformed into the fields at the reflector aperture, and these reflector aperture fields may then be processed as if they were received by a planar or linear array. Similarly, the desired field or current distribution across the reflector aperture when transmitting may be transformed into the required field or current distribution at the hybrid system feed. This method allows standard linear or planar array analysis and synthesis techniques to be used with the hybrid system. Examples are provided for transmit and receive weight synthesis.     

A comparison among 1-, 3-, and 7-horn feeds for a 37-beam MBA

A very common multiple beam antenna (MBA) configuration consists of a collimating device illuminated by an array of feeds. The collimating device is usually a reflector or a lens. The feeds are usually horn antennas with a circular aperture. The reflector is usually offset-fed to eliminate aperture blockage; the lens is center fed. The antenna's feeds are excited to produce a finite number of beams, so as to provide contiguous coverage of the field of view. The designer is forced to minimize the angular spacing between adjacent beams in order to maximize the minimum gain over the antenna's field of view. On the other hand, the feed horn's aperture gain is maximized when the feed horn spacing and its aperture diameter are equal. This results in antenna efficiency of the order of 30% when a single feed horn is excited to produce a beam. When a cluster of 3 or 7 adjacent feed horns are excited to produce a single beam, antenna efficiency can be increased to 50%. When it is tolerable, several identical antenna apertures can be used to replace a single aperture configuration. In this case, each of M apertures produces approximately N/M beams of an MBA that produces N beams. Horns producing adjacent beams do not illuminate the same aperture. This permits the use of a much larger horn aperture for a given beam spacing. This results in reduced spillover, higher gain of each beam, and increased antenna efficiency of each aperture. This paper investigates the maximization of gain for several lens antennas. It shows that antenna gain is increased as its focal length is decreased. That is, a focal length-to-diameter ratio (F/D) less than 1 is preferred     

Zooming and Scanning Gregorian Confocal Dual Reflector Antennas

The zooming and scanning capabilities of a Gregorian confocal dual reflector antenna are described. The basic antenna configuration consists of two oppositely facing paraboloidal reflectors sharing a common focal point. A planar feed array is used to illuminate the subreflector allowing the antenna to scan its beam. The resulting quadratic aberrations can be compensated by active mechanical deformation of the subreflector surface, which is based on translation, rotation and focal length adjustment. In order to reduce the complexity of the mechanical deformation, least squares fit paraboloids are defined to approximate the optimal correction surface. These best fit paraboloids considerably reduce scanning losses and pattern degradation. This work also introduces two different zooming techniques for the Gregorian confocal dual reflector antenna: the first consists of introducing a controlled quadratic path error to the main reflector aperture; and the second is based on reducing the size of the radiating aperture of the feeding array.      

收发等波束的双频低副瓣多波束天线

介绍了一种可实现收发波束大小一致的工作于K/Ka频段的低副瓣反射面多波束天线系统。该天线系统采用高效率双频多模喇叭作为馈源,实现了收发频段共用同一反射面,极大地降低了系统的规模。通过对反射面口径场上幅度和相位的分布对天线二次辐射方向图的影响的分析,提出了一种在高频处对反射面引入副瓣照射的方法,从而实现了收发波束大小一致。该天线系统在收发频段均体现了良好的低副瓣、高载干比特性。     

Maximization of the directive gain of a parabolic reflector antenna

The directive gain of a parabolic reflector antenna is maximized by optimizing the feed aperture distribution. The feed aperture distribution is specified by a set ofNbasis functions weighted by coefficients to be determined. This approach is different from the conventional method where, given a particular feed, the directive gain is maximized by subjecting the reflector aperture parameters to optimization.     

Aperture efficiency and line feed phase center of parabolic cylindrical reflector antenna

Formulas for calculation of the aperture efficiency of a parabolic cylindrical reflector antenna fed by a line feed along the focal line are presented. The efficiency is factorized into a number of subefficiencies which include contributions from line feed end diffraction, and from blockage and reflections from line feed supports and from diffraction by gaps in the reflector surface. One of the subefficiencies is used to define a phase center for the line feed as well as to obtain a formula for calculating it.     

Subreflectarrays for Reflector Surface Distortion Compensation

With the increasing interest in the applications of large deployable reflector antennas operating at high frequencies, the requirement on the reflector surface accuracy becomes more demanding. Thermal effects inevitably cause certain reflector surface distortions, thus degrading the overall antenna performance. This paper introduces a novel reflector surface distortion compensation technique using a subreflectarray and presents detailed discussions. A microstrip reflectarray is used as a subreflector, illuminated by a primary feed. By properly adjusting the additional phase shift provided by the subreflectarray, the aperture phase errors caused by the main reflector surface distortions are compensated, resulting in a considerably improved antenna performance. As an example, a distorted 20-m offset parabolic reflector antenna operating at X-band is successfully compensated by a subreflectarray, and the simulation results are compared with those obtained by array feed and shaped subreflector compensation techniques. The microstrip subreflectarray is low-profile, lightweight, and cost-effective. Only one primary feed is required, and a reconfigurable design can be achieved if electronically reconfigurable reflectarray elements are adopted.      

Numerical optimization of a cylindrical reflector-in-radome antennasystem

Accurate numerical optimization based on rigorous solution of the integral equation using the method of analytical regularization is performed for a cylindrical reflector antenna in a dielectric radome. It is shown that the multiple scattering in this system is more significant for the optimum radome design than any nonplane-wave effects or the curvature of the radome. We claim that, although the common half-wavelength design is a good approximation to avoid negative effects of the radome (such as the loss of the antenna directivity), one can, by carefully playing with the radome thickness, its radius, reflector location, and the position of the feed, improve the reflector-in-radome antenna performance (e.g., increase the directivity) with respect to the same reflector in free-space     

Realizable feed-element patterns and optimum aperture efficiency inmultibeam antenna systems

The results of an earlier paper by Y. Rahmat-Samii et al. (ibid., vol.AP-29, pp.961-3, 1981), regarding realizable patterns from feed elements that are part of an array that feeds a reflector antenna, are extended. The earlier paper used a cos^q &thetas; model for the element radiation pattern, whereas here a parametric study is performed, using a model that assumes a central beam of cos^q &thetas; shape, with a constant sidelobe level outside the central beam. Realizable q-values are constrained by the maximum directivity based on feed element area. The optimum aperture efficiency (excluding array feed network losses) in an array-reflector system is evaluated as a function of element spacing using this model as well as the model of the earlier paper. Experimental data for tapered slot antenna arrays are in agreement with the conclusions based on the model     

A first-order treatment of aberrations in Cassegrainian and Gregorian antennas

The decrease in aperture efficiency caused by small aberrations in a reflector antenna is determined. The important case of a Cassegrainian (or Gregorian) antenna with a feed placed in the vicinity of the focal point is treated in detail. For this case the various aberration components due to astigmatism, coma, etc., are derived explicitly, their effect on aperture efficiency is shown, and the conditions that optimize performance are given. The results are useful for the design of multibeam antennas in ground stations and satellites.     

Improvement of prompt response from impulse radiating antennas by aperture trimming

Reflector impulse radiating antennas (IRA) traditionally have been constructed by terminating a self-reciprocal, transverse electromagnetic (TEM) transmission-line feed structure into a paraboloidal reflector. The section of the paraboloid used is usually circular in cross-section, with the outer boundary coinciding with the circle of symmetry of the TEM feed. The reflector converts the spherical TEM mode on the feed line into an approximate plane wave in the near field by geometric optics. The prompt radiated electric field in the direction of focus is given in the physical optics approximation in terms of the integral of the electric field of the TEM mode over the aperture plane inside the reflector boundary. Balanced feed structures have TEM modes that provide both positive and negative contributions to this integral in the aperture plane. Determination of the contour where the principal component of the electric field in the TEM mode is zero identifies portions of the aperture that contribute destructively to the integral. These portions are removed, thereby increasing the prompt radiated field without altering the feed structure or the applied voltage waveform. Furthermore, decreasing the size of the TEM feed relative to the aperture size, followed by appropriate aperture trimming, allows an even greater increase in radiated field. Results are presented that predict an increase in prompt radiated fields for all electrode configurations. Improvements are largest for electrode angles that are large (with respect to the vertical). The trends predicted by the numerical results are verified by an experiment conducted on a time-domain antenna range.     

A dual chamber Gregorian subreflector system for compact rangeapplications

A dual-chamber compact range configuration is proposed wherein the main reflector and target zone are located in the main chamber and an oversized Gregorian subreflector and associated feed assemblies in the other. The chambers are isolated by an absorber fence except for a small coupling aperture which is used to transmit signals between them. The absorber fence prevents diffraction by the subreflector and spillover by the feed from illuminating the main reflector and target zone. System performance is analyzed with and without the absorber fence to show how the coupling aperture should be shaped to minimize diffractions     

反射面天线焦面场采样研究与相控阵馈源设计

为了设计高性能的相控阵馈源(phased array feed,PAF),通过反射面天线焦面场最优采样的研究,给出了PAF参数与天线口径效率之间的关系,总结了PAF的最优采样范围和单元间距,导出了PAF单元数量的计算公式.给出了一个9 m天线的PAF设计实例和性能分析,在4～7 GHz频率范围内,扫描范围为±3°时,天...     

Compensation of reflector antenna surface distortion using an arrayfeed

Various aspects of reflector surface distortion compensation are explored by first assuming the reflector distortion is given and then designing the compensating feed array. The sensitivity of boresight directivity to changing surface distortion parameters for fixed feed-array geometries is examined. It is found that feed array compensation is feasible only for distortions with low spatial frequency content, such as those distortions induced by thermal and gravitational effects. The optimum directivity methods for determining element excitation is found to yield slightly better values of directivity than those for the conjugate field matching (CMF) technique. However, the CFM technique has, in general, much lower sidelobe levels and lends itself to simple realization in hardware. In view of these results, distortion compensation using an array feed is concluded to be a reasonable approach to improving antenna performance for large, space-based reflector antennas that are not easily accessible for tuning and have time-dependent surface distortions