Filtering secondary mirror for a dual-band Cassegrain reflector antenna

A dual-frequency Cassegrain reflector antenna has been investigated in which the secondary mirror is constructed from a stack of waveguides. The secondary mirror behaves as a highpass filter, giving access to the prime-focus feed position at the higher-frequency band. The copolar and crosspolar radiation patterns are discussed.     

Performance of a reflector antenna incorporating a filtering Cassegrain mirror

Radiation patterns have been measured at 20.0, 22.0 and 25.2 GHz for a parabolic reflector illuminated from the prime focus by a linearly polarised feed radiating through a sub-reflector built from a stack of dielectric filled waveguides. The influence of the intervening guides on the radiation patterns is discussed.     

Aperture feed for a spherical reflector

The problem of designing a feed system for illuminating a spherical reflector is examined. A method is proposed for specifying the required field distribution over the aperture of the feed system, and the primary illumination and gain resulting from this distribution are derived. The results indicate that a significantly smaller feed aperture can be employed than would be indicated by conventional ray tracing methods. Specific numerical results are obtained by taking the Arecibo antenna as an example, for which a calculated aperture efficiency of 67.5 percent is possible with approximately a 38-foot-diameter aperture feed.     

A line feed for a spherical reflector

A line feed for a spherical reflector is considered on the basis of a plane-wave spectrum of radiation angles. It is shown that a feed excited by circumferential slots results in a gain deterioration of at least 3 dB. The correct excitation of the feed is indicated. Expressions for field components in the focal region are obtained.     

An offset-fed reflector antenna with an axially symmetric main reflector

A design method for an offset-fed, dual reflector antenna (Cassegrain type or Gregorian type) system with an axisymmetric main reflector is presented. Geometrical optics (GO) and the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) are used to find the surface-current density on the main reflector. A modified Jacobi-Bessel series (JBS) method is used to find the far-field pattern for the physical optics (PO) integral. In the defocused mode of operation, a new technique is developed to find the reflection point on the subreflector corresponding to the defocused feed and a general field point on the main reflector. Two sample systems are designed.     

Multiple-beam dual-offset reflector antenna with an array feed

A computer simulation is described for the production of multiple beams by a dual-offset reflector antenna with a feed consisting of a circular waveguide array. It is shown that acceptable efficiencies and low crosspolar levels can be achieved for two sample beams of a multibeam configuration by deriving the array excitation from the focal-region fields of the double-offset antenna.     

Dual-offset antennas with a spherical main reflector for smallearth stations

The design of dual-reflector antennas with a spherical main reflector for small earth stations is considered. An analysis of the field polarization throughout the system shows that it is possible to adjust the reflectors to obtain very low cross-polarization. The use of an elliptical main reflector projection is explored in order to enhance efficiency and lower side-lobe levels     

Calculated scan characteristics of a large spherical reflector antenna

A previously published numerical method to calculate the radiation properties of parabolic reflectors has been modified to also include very large spherical reflectors. The method has been verified by comparing the calculated and the measured results for a 120-wavelength spherical reflector.     

Wideband feed system of a spherical mirror antenna

Analysis of input characteristics of a helical cylinder antenna and helixes crosstalk in array with few elements is performed. Construction of a wideband feed in the form of sphere-cylinder antenna is suggested.     

Reflection coefficient at the feed of a radome-covered reflector antenna

The reflection coefficient at the feed of a paraboloidal reflector antenna covered with a paraboloidal radome is evaluated by means of the power-coupling theorem. An asymptotic value of the subsequent expression leads to a simple physical interpretation of the result. A comparison between theoretical and experimental results shows that there is a satisfactory measure of agreement between the two.     

Beam steering using feed displacement with a paraboloidal reflector

The field in an aperture plane for a symmetrical paraboloidal reflector with its feed displaced from the axis is obtained as a polynomial expansion in coordinates in that plane. From this expansion, the loci of feed positions for maximum gain and for narrowest beamwidths in the radial and tangential directions are found to be on spheres passing through the focus and with their centers near to the vertex, near midway between the focus and the vertex, and near infinity in the direction of the vertex, respectively. Expressions for the variation of the gain with offset are obtained, and are found to be consistent with results obtained by other workers by extensive computer modeling forF- numbers greater than one (the range that was covered in their models).     

星载赋形波束单馈源单偏置反射面天线设计

为了使星载赋形波束天线远场方向图与服务区形状匹配良好,并且在波束覆盖区内具有较平坦的方向性系数,将表征反射面形状的Zernike多项式展开系数作为优化变量,建立基于最小P乘法和Minmax方法的适应度函数,利用进化算法进行赋形反射面天线优化。利用该方法设计了覆盖中国大陆和巴西的赋形波束反射面天线。仿真结果表明,天线远场方向图与服务区形状均匹配良好,服务区内的方向性系数波动量分别为2.31 dB和11.23 dB,该值比现有方法小,并且该方法具有较高自由度及收敛性好的特点。     

An aperture coupled microstrip antenna with a proximity feed on a perpendicular substrate

A new feeding configuration for microstrip antennas is described, where separate substrates are used for the radiating patch element and the microstrip feedline. The substrates are joined perpendicular to each other, and the patch is excited through an aperture in the antenna substrate ground plane by proximity coupling to the microstrip feedline, This design thus has a number of advantages over other feeding configurations, particularly when used in an integrated phased array application. These features, as well as the measured results from two experimental models, are described.     

Optimisation of cross-polarisation performance for tri-reflectorCATR with spherical main reflector

For a tri-reflector compact antenna test range (CATR) with spherical main reflector and shaped subreflectors, the cross-polarisation performance is optimised, based on the beam-mode expansion method. For optimal designs, physical optics (PO) calculations of the quiet zone fields are presented, and it is shown that a tradeoff has to be made between a low cross-polarisation level and a low amplitude ripple in the quiet zone     

Phase center location of a paraboloidal reflector antenna with an axially defocused feed

Formulas for determining phase center locations in the principalEandHplanes of a paraboloidal reflector antenna with an axially defocused feed have been developed. The relations between the phase center location and various antenna parameters and the distance from the source to the focus are studied and presented in graphical forms. It has been found that, in general, phase center locations change significantly with the amount of defocusing.     

Synthesis of the fields of a transverse feed for a spherical reflector

The problem of designing a transverse feed for a spherical reflector is considered and a method is presented for synthesizing the fields on a surface of a sphere enclosing a feed that will produce a specified reflected field at the surface of a spherical reflector. The method identifies the reflector and a spherical surface enclosing the feed as a boundary value problem and uses a finite set of spherical waves to approximate the boundary conditions. A feed designed to excite this field will in turn produce the desired reflected field at the surface of the reflector, under the condition that that portion of the reflected field which is scattered by the feed may be neglected. It is shown that the feed need produce only a small part of the synthesized field to obtain an antenna efficiency of more than 70 percent. Some typical field distributions will be shown so as to indicate a method for designing a feed and to point out the correlation between the polarization of the synthesized field and the polarization of the reflected field at the surface of the reflector.     

High efficiency and low sidelobe design for a large aperture offset reflector antenna

A design method giving high efficiency and low sidelobes is discussed for large aperture offset reflector antennas. A new reflector shaping technique using the subreflector and the beam waveguide reflector with the parabolic main reflector is proposed to simplify the main reflector manufacturing process. The effectiveness of the technique is confirmed by the model experiments. One problem with this reflector shaping technique is that the subreflector edge level cannot be controlled independently of the main reflector edge level. By investigating the relation between the gain reduction and the subreflector edge level, which affects the wide-angle sidelobe levels, the realizable characteristics of antennas are studied. In order to decrease the subreflector edge level without reducing the aperture efficiency, a technique using an extended reflector is also proposed. Its effectiveness is shown by theoretical and experimental investigations.     

Performance of a rectangular-waveguide-excited short backfire antenna employing a conical main reflector

The letter presents experimental results at X-band for a short backfire antenna employing a conical reflector, which is excited by a rectangular waveguide. It is shown that the use of a conical main reflector can lead to a compact antenna having a directive gain of 16.7?18.3 dB, sidelobe level below 13.8 dB and input VSWR better than 2.5 over a 20% bandwidth from 9?11 GHz.     

Beamwidth variation with aperture diameter of the choked waveguide feed antenna

The choked waveguide feed antenna, which exhibits E- and H-plane radiation pattern equality, good pattern symmetry and low cross polarisation, is an excellent feed for symmetrical reflector antennas with f/D ratios in the range of about 0.3 to 0.4. An experimental programme has been carried out to determine the variation of beamwidth with feed aperture diameter, and the results are presented here.