Abstract
A novel antenna array architecture for low-cost and compact SATCOM mobile terminal is presented. Based on equal-amplitude aperiodic phased array with fewer active chain numbers, it possesses advantages including lower weight, less cost, and higher power efficiency compared to conventional periodic phased arrays. It is implemented with printed patch antenna so that it guarantees compactness. The elements position and dimensions are jointly designed, with an effective sparse array synthesis strategy that takes actual patch antenna design constraint into consideration, to obtain a maximum array aperture efficiency. Executable and practical approach for variable dimension patch antenna designing, including defect substrate element and small scale array, is introduced and utilized to implement proposed sparse array. Full-wave simulation results demonstrate the advantages of proposed array antenna as well as the effectiveness of corresponding design approach.
Highlights
For the land and maritime satellite communication (SATCOM) terminals, especially the Communication-On-TheMove (COTM) application, the beam steering capability is a compulsory requirement to the antenna
We found in [19] that this configuration makes it easier to conduct synthesis procedure compared to those more typical phased arrays whose minimum element aperture is usually not larger than 0.7λ
The demonstrating frequency is chosen at 14.25 GHz, which is a typical value of practical SATCOM uplink band
Summary
For the land and maritime satellite communication (SATCOM) terminals, especially the Communication-On-TheMove (COTM) application, the beam steering capability is a compulsory requirement to the antenna. Both mechanical and electrical beam steering technologies could be utilized to accomplish this task, but the latter has significant advantages including quicker response, lower profile, and light weight. The cost of phased array is mostly brought in by the large number of active RF components (e.g., phase shifters, amplifiers) within it. Though some classic methods for reducing the number of active components in phased array have been developed, such as subarraying, these approaches are not applicable when wide angle beam steering is required
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