Characterization of dense focal plane array feeds for parabolic reflectors in achieving closely overlapping or widely separated multiple beams

Abstract

In the advent of modern mobile satellite communications requiring rapid and adaptive multiple beams, this work studies the ability of reflector antennas fed by dense focal plane arrays (FPA) in achieving arbitrarily shaped and sized footprints to meet the demands. In this paper, the efficiencies of single off‐axis as well as multiple beams of FPA‐fed paraboloids are investigated. The offset FPA considered here comprises hard rectangular waveguides. The focal plane field, which the FPA samples, is synthesized by integration of the physical optics induced electric currents over the reflector surface caused by the off‐axis incident plane wave arriving at that incidence angle of interest. Full mutual coupling analysis has been performed in the FPA sampling, thereby taking into account mutual coupling losses in the arrays. The fields over the tilted elliptical aperture of off‐axis beams needed for calculation of the aperture efficiency are obtained by projecting the usual focal plane fields to this tilted aperture using geometrical optics. Results show that the total efficiency of the offset FPA‐fed reflector decreases with increasing beam angle and increases with larger number of FPA elements. It is also found that the maximum directive gain of the reflector radiation patterns falls noticeably with beam angle when the FPA population is low, but the directivity can be maintained well when an adequate number of FPA elements are used. Multiple beams that are either closely overlapping or widely separated are also successfully investigated.