Duration: 18 months
A wideband antenna with low-loss mechanical beam-steering and a low profile will be designed in this proposal. The antenna will cover both the transmitting and receiving satellite bands from 17.7 to 31 GHz, which is much wider than the conventional and commercial solutions. The Risley lens principle was the inspiration for the proposed mechanical beam-steering method. In a Risley lens concept, two lenses are independently rotated. Each lens has a static beam tilt of K degrees. By rotating the two layers the resulting beam-direction can be altered to any position within a circle of radius 2*K degrees. This project will utilize a Continuous Transverse Stub (CTS) antenna array as a broadband feed and a single wide-band lens. The antenna is expected to achieve a much lower profile than the state-of-the-art. Initial simulation results have shown that the CTS antenna array feed with a vertical corporate feeding network can generate the desired plane wave from 17.7 to 31 GHz. With an asymmetrical feeding structure, the CTS can give a tilted beam directly, meaning only one lens layer is needed. Several activities will be carried out to realize the proposed antenna design, achieving an extremely wideband operation, realizing circular polarization, and lastly, adding beam-steering functionality. Prototypes will be used to demonstrate the eventual design proposals.
