Title
DragOnFly: Electronically steerable low drag aeronautical antenna
Author
Silvestri, F.
Benini, A.
Gandini, E.
Gerini, G.
Martini, E.
Maci, S.
Vigano, M.C.
Geurts, M.
Toso, G.
Monni, S.
Publication year
2017
Abstract
This paper presents design considerations for the development of wide-scanning antennas for on-craft satellite communications. A scanning coverage of 80° is required for this application over a 15% fractional bandwidth in Ka-band. A solution based on a phased array illuminating a passive superstrate is identified as the most promising. A fully-electronic beam-scanning is considered in order to reduce the overall thickness of the antenna architecture by avoiding mechanical rotational supports. This is beneficial for the application since a reduced thickness corresponds to a lower drag. Two kinds of superstrates were investigated, a flat solution and a flattened dome. In both cases, the deflecting structure is illuminated by a phased array and is represented as a surface characterized by an optimized phase shift distribution that allows to maintain a high gain level up to very large scan angles. A flatter gain profile compared to a typical cosine scan loss for planar phased arrays was achieved in both cases. Attention was devoted to the minimization of the thickness, which was significantly reduced in comparison to classical dielectric dome solutions.
Subject
2015 Observation, Weapon & Protection Systems 2015 Nano Technology
RT - Radar Technology OPT - Optics
TS - Technical Sciences
Infostructures
Information Society
Beam deflector
Dome antennas
Antenna arrays
Antenna phased arrays
Antennas
Bandwidth
Domes
Drag
Microwave antennas
Satellite antennas
Steerable antennas
Antenna architecture
Beam deflectors
Design considerations
Electronic beam scanning
Fractional bandwidths
Large scan angle
Planar phased arrays
Satellite communications
Scanning antennas
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:b5b7e974-bbcb-4017-b91e-fb7426757a20
TNO identifier
766498
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE
ISBN
9788890701870
Source
11th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, EUCAP 2017, 19-24 March 2017, Paris, France, 3423-3427
Article number
7928582
Document type
conference paper