Two new compact lens antenna configurations are presented and compared for data link communications with LEO satellites at 26 GHz These lenses match a secant type radiation pattern template in the elevation plane while having a mechanically scanned sector beam in azimuth to enhance gain as much as possible No rotary joints or multiple feeds are required and emphasis is put also on the compactness of the proposed solutions (< 6lambda0) Two alternative lens configurations are evaluated numerically and experimentally: one is based on modified axial-symmetric dome lens geometry, and the other one consists of a full 3-D double-shell lens antenna In contrast to current nearly omnidirectional antennas, the directivity of our lens prototypes is above 154 dBi Up to 42 dB loss obtained in the prototypes can be significantly reduced by using lower loss dielectrics and matching layers, without affecting the conclusions The numerical and experimental results are in good agreement with the radiation specifications given the compact size of the antennas

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Compact Ka-Band Lens Antennas for LEO Satellites

The antenna presented uses vertical linear polarization and scans from -45/spl deg/ to +45/spl deg/ in the azimuth plane and has a fixed cosecant squared beam in the elevation plane This paper presents the performance and measurement results for a 1-D scanning phased array antenna with a 16/spl times/16 element configuration Gain is measured to be 225 dBi at 0/spl deg/ scan The measured radiation patterns, gains and active return loss for scans from -45/spl deg/ to +45/spl deg/ in 5/spl deg/ steps demonstrate consistent patterns with no grating lobes and blindness This performance is attributed to minimum mutual coupling effects of this microstrip patch array

K. Hersey

Papers

Azimuth scanning, Ka-band phased array antenna