Ku-band Satellite Communication Research Articles

Multilayer Printed Circuit Board Design Based on Copper Paste Sintering Technology for Satellite Communication Receiving Phased Array

A 2048-element dual-polarized receive (RX) phased array for Ku-band (10.7–12.7 GHz) satellite communication (SATCOM) is presented in this paper. The design of the multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) it uses adopts a novel copper paste sintering interconnection technology that allows for more flexibility in the design of vias and can reduce the PCB’s lamination number. This technology is more suitable for manufacturing multilayer and complex PCBs than traditional processes. The array is designed to consist of sixteen 8 × 16 element subarrays, each based on the silicon RX beamformer and multilayer PCB. Dual-polarized antenna elements are arranged in a regular rectangle with a spacing of 0.5 for a wavelength of 12.7 GHz, thus achieving a scanning range of ±70° in all planes. By adjusting the amplitude and phase of two line polarizations with cross-polarization levels better than −25 dB at boresight, the array can generate linear or circular polarization. Moreover, the antenna gain-to-noise temperature is above 12 dB/K (Tant = 20 K) at boresight. The aperture of the 2048-element RX phased array is 768 × 450 mm. With its low profile, the array is appropriate for usage in Ku-band SATCOM terminals.

A Four-Port Dual-Band Dual-Polarized Antenna for Ku-Band Satellite Communications

This paper presents the development of a four-port dual-band dual-polarized antenna for transmitting/receiving (Tx/Rx) applications in Ku-band satellite communications. The antenna consists of two antenna elements sharing a common radiating aperture, a low-band element formed by an L-probe proximity-fed square-ring radiator for operation at the Rx band of 10.7–12.75 GHz, and a high-band element realized by a stacked-patch radiator for operation at the Tx band of 13.75–14.5 GHz. Within a compact multilayer structure, the antenna achieves wide dual-band operation, with each band having the ability to simultaneously operate with dual polarization. An antenna prototype is fabricated and tested to verify its performance. The experimental results show that the proposed antenna achieves an impedance bandwidth of 9.28–12.96 GHz (13.21–15.32 GHz), an isolation value between two orthogonal polarizations of 12 dB (12.4 dB), and a peak gain of 6.63 dBi (5.42 diBi) at the low band (high band). Tx/Rx isolation of more than 14 dB is achieved in both the Rx band and Tx band.

Wideband and Highly Selective BandPass Filter Using Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology for Ku-Band Applications

A new compact design of bandpass filter using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) is proposed and analyzed in this paper. It offers good in-band return loss, low insertion loss, wide passband, and high stopband attenuation. The filtering response is achieved by loading a couple of inverted tuning fork-shaped defected ground structures (DGS) on the bottom of the SIW cavity. DGS is utilized to enhance the upper stopband performance. To validate, the filter is fabricated using Rogers RT/Duroid 5880 with 0.508 mm thickness and tested. The filter has a center frequency of 15.44 GHz with 19% fractional bandwidth (FBW). The return loss is more than 20 dB and the insertion loss is about 1.2 dB. It finds its application in Ku band satellite communication.

Wideband Dual Linearly Polarized Hollow- Waveguide Septum Antenna Array for Ku-Band Satellite Communications

This article presents a Ku-band full-corporate-feed dual linearly polarized (LP) hollow-waveguide (HW) septum antenna array. A modified low-profile septum polarizer, worked as the radiating element, is designed to push the radiation nulls out of the desired passband upon odd-mode excitation, which helps to achieve stable and consistent radiation performance for both H-pol and V-pol. Square coaxial lines are employed to realize two sets of full-corporate feeding networks with compact size, enabling close spacing between the two adjacent radiating elements. A magic-T based on the single-ridge waveguide is designed to provide in-phase and out-of-phase responses for the feeding networks so that the dual LPs can be achieved. A prototype covering 10.5–14.5 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured for demonstration. Experimental results show that more than 17.3 dBi peak gain and better than 79% antenna efficiency for both polarizations are achieved within the desired frequency band. In addition, the antenna is free from grating lobes over the same frequency band.

Ku-Band SIW Filter with High Fractional Bandwidth Optimized Using Feed Forward Back Propagation ANN

An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based Substrate Integrated Waveguide Band Pass Filter (SIW BPF) is proposed in this paper. A Feed Forward Back Propagation Neural Network (FF-BP NN) is utilized to optimize the filter dimensions. The Gradient Descent with Momentum and Adaptive Learning Rate algorithm is used to train the network at a learning rate of 0.01. The high pass characteristics of the SIW is converted into band pass by incorporating U slots on its top plane. Defected Ground Structure (DGS) is utilized in the bottom plane to improve the impedance matching. To validate, the prototype is fabricated using RT/Duroid 5880 and tested. The proposed filter has a center frequency at 14.68 GHz with a wide pass band from 12.92 to 16.43 GHz with a 3-dB Fractional Bandwidth (FBW) of 24%, return loss more than 20 dB and insertion loss of about 1.9 dB within the pass band. The filter has a small dimension of about 0.63 λ g 2 , where λ g is the guided wavelength at the center frequency. This filter offers wide passband, smaller size, low insertion loss, good return loss and it is useful in Ku-band satellite communication applications.

Dual-Band Dual-Polarization Horn Antenna Array Based on Orthomode Transducers With High Isolation for Satellite Communication

A dual-band dual-polarization horn antenna array is proposed for Ku-band satellite communication (SATCOM) in this article. A miniaturized orthomode transducer (OMT) using the mutually perpendicular multistep waveguide transition and coupled transition to transmit TE10 mode and TE01 mode, respectively, is integrated into the radiation element. The high isolation characteristic of horizontal polarization in the transmitting band (Tx) and vertical polarization in the receiving band (Rx) desired for SATCOM is realized. Moreover, the sinusoid-tapered horn antenna and the radiating cross-shaped cavity are employed as the shared-aperture element to radiate orthogonal waves simultaneously, having the potential of wide bandwidth, low sidelobes, and high radiation efficiency. With the facility of the 3-D metal printing technology, a horn antenna array consisting of the proposed 4 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times4$ </tex-math></inline-formula> radiation elements and feeding networks is demonstrated and fabricated. The gains up to 26.48 and 26.51 dBi with radiation efficiencies of around 94% and 90% are obtained at Tx- and Rx-bands, respectively. Benefitted from the advantages of compact size, high gain, and high efficiency, the proposed horn antenna array is suitable to tackle the high-throughput demand in Ku-band SATCOM systems.

A low‐profile ultrawideband circularly polarized slot antenna array based on artificial magnetic conductor array reflector

A broadband circularly polarized (CP) slot antenna unit that is composed of a sector-shaped radiator and an irregular pentagon slot ground plane is initially investigated. The CP characteristics are realized based on unbalanced feeding and loading of irregular slot structure. To increase the gain and yield ultrawideband operation, a 2 × 2 antenna array with a sequential rotational feeding method is introduced. To further reduce the total profile of the proposed antenna array to 0.15λ0, an artificial magnetic conductor array reflector is loaded between the antenna array and the feeding network. The measured 10-dB impedance bandwidth of the proposed antenna array was 82.6% (8.31–20.0 GHz), and its corresponding CP bandwidth was 65.4% (8.61–16.98 GHz), and the radiation efficiency of the antenna is also higher than 80%. Besides exhibiting very good axial beams across the wide CP bandwidth, a peak gain of up to 11.1 dBic is also achieved. Thus, it is suitable for X-band and Ku-band satellite communication applications.

Двух-поляризационные решетки широкополосных печатных излучателей для приложений X и Ku-диапазонов

Based on the developed dual-polarization module in the form of a four-element array of printed patches, solutions for two antenna systems of X and Ku bands are implemented. The parabolic reflector antenna for Ku-band satellite communication systems with the feeder in the form of the four-element array of printed patches with switchable linear polarization is investigated. The feeder forms axisymmetric radiation with high-quality linear polarization in the wide frequency band. The reflector antenna with the aperture diameter of 1.2 m in the Ku range is characterized by a gain of 39-41 dBi. The antenna array for the X-band radar made on the basis of modules of printed patches four-element arrays with switchable linear polarization is investigated. The antenna array is characterized by scanning sectors of 70° and 65° in orthogonal planes. The presented parabolic antenna and antenna array are intended for use as part of radio-electronic complexes installed on moving objects.

Characterization of rain fade dynamics for Ku band satellite communication systems in a tropical location

Rain fade has always been regarded as the main obstacle to the terrestrial and satellite communication links operating at higher frequencies, particularly in the tropics. The dynamic features of rain fade such as duration and slope of fade are important parameters for system engineers to design and plan attenuation techniques for high reliability Ku-band services and other higher frequency bands. Twenty - four (24) consecutive months (January 2017 – December 2018) received signal strength data at 12.245 GHz (Ku-band) from EUTELSAT-W4 (geostationary at 36°E) is collected concurrently with rain intensity data at The Federal University of Technology, Akure (7.17°N, 5.18°E) Nigeria. Measured fade duration is compared with ITU-R P. 1623 model and the Cheffena-Amaya prediction model. The results show that the ITU-R model is close to the data measured, while the Cheffena-Amaya model overestimates the measurement for all timeframes taken into account. A modification of the ITU-R fade duration model is suggested according to the data measured. The proposed modified ITU-R prediction model is a recommended model to be adopted for Nigeria climate. These results can be used in the planning and design of fade mitigation techniques to overcome the effects of intense rain on terrestrial-satellite microwave links operating in the Ku-band in tropical regions.

Modified double dumbbell-shaped split-ring resonator-based negative permittivity metamaterial for satellite communications with high effective medium ratio

Metamaterial with negative permittivity demonstrate excellent performance in cutting-edge technology. Thus, this study modified the double dumbbell-shaped split-ring resonator (MDD-SRR) based negative permittivity for satellite communications. The proposed MDD-SRR unit cell comprises a square-shaped split-ring resonator and two dumbbell-shaped rings. Some parts of the outer square ring were extended to enlarge the electrical length which altered the inductance of the metamaterial unit cell. The dimension of the proposed unit cell is 9 × 9 × 1.524 mm3, fabricated on a Rogers RT6002 (lossy) substrate material. Based on the results, five resonances for the transmission coefficient were achieved at frequencies of 2.896 GHz, 8.11 GHz, 9.76 GHz, 12.48 GHz and 13.49 GHz, including the S, X and Ku band satellite communication frequency bands through numerical simulation in a high-frequency electromagnetic simulator Computer Simulation Technology (CST) microwave studio. Negative permittivity at frequencies ranging from 2.896–3.76 GHz, 8.11–8.592 GHz, 9.76–10.784 GHz, 12.496–12.768 GHz, 13.504–14.4 GHz, were observed and extracted using the Robust and Nicolson–Ross–Weir (NRW) methods. Meanwhile, an effective medium ratio (EMR) measured at 11.51 to 2.896 GHz specified the goodness of the metamaterial unit cell for satellite communication with higher bandwidth and gain. The simulated, circuit model and measured results that were compared for validation purposes indicated that the simulation results, the equivalent circuit model results and measured results occupied each other. Moreover, the numerical simulation of the double dumbbell-shaped metamaterial unit cell was performed using a High-Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) to confirm the results. To evaluate the parametric study, the proposed unit cell was subjected to change different substrate types, change of split gap of rings, change of direction of electromagnetic field propagation, and structural optimization. In conclusion, the S, X and Ku-bands in the proposed metamaterial are competent for satellite communications as they are also investigated using an array of a unit cell.

A Highly Efficient Dual-Band Transmitarray Antenna Using Cross and Square Rings Elements

In this paper, a highly efficient dual-band transmitarray antenna using cross and square rings elements is presented for X and Ku bands. The dual-band transmitarray is designed for downlink/uplink frequencies of Ku band satellite communications. The transmitarray element consists of four metal patches and two dielectric substrates. The metal patch is printed on both sides of the substrate. By optimizing the parameters, the transmitarray element can achieve a transmission phase coverage greater than 360° and work independently in both frequency bands. Then, a method to select the size of the element is proposed, so that all the elements in the array can realize the transmission phase of the two frequencies as much as possible. A 201-elements transmitarray antenna is fabricated and measured and the band ratio of the antenna is 1.13. The measured maximum gain at 11.5 GHz is 22.4 dB, corresponding to the aperture efficiency is 52.7%. The measured maximum gain at 13 GHz is 24.2 dB, corresponding to the aperture efficiency is 62.4%. The 1-dB gain bandwidths are 9.7% (10.8-11.9 GHz) at X band and 9% (12.6-13.8 GHz) at Ku band.

A high gain and compact transmitarray antenna for Ku-band satellite communications

ABSTRACT This work focuses on designing a low-profile frequency selective surface transmitarray antenna at 12 GHz using a four-layer Split Ring Resonator structure. The parametric analysis shows a high transmission coefficient magnitude of −2.38 dB and 349-degrees phase range. X-band horn antenna is used as a feed source to illuminate the Frequency Selective Surface (FSS) transmitarray layers. Each FSS layer is comprised of 121 elements. The measured results show a wide impedance bandwidth of 35%, a high gain value of 21.9 dBi and 11.6% 1-dB bandwidth. The proposed design can be used in high gain array antenna applications, particularly Ku band Satellite communication systems.

A 1024-Element Ku-Band SATCOM Dual-Polarized Receiver With &gt;10-dB/K G/T and Embedded Transmit Rejection Filter

This article presents a 1024-element dual-polarized Ku-band (10.7–12.7 GHz) satellite communication (SATCOM) receive (RX) phased array. The array consists of four 16 $\times16$ subarray tiles, each of which comprises 64 eight-channel beamformer chips, 256 dual-channel low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), and 256 dual-polarized antennas built on an affordable printed circuit board (PCB). The antennas spaced at $\lambda $ /2 spacing at 12.2 GHz in an equilateral triangular grid allow scanning up to x±70° in all planes while maintaining a cross-polarization level $ dB. The use of LNAs just after the antennas enables a low-noise operation with an antenna gain-to-noise temperature (G/T) of 10.5 dB/K ( $T_{\mathrm {ant}} =20$ K) at broadside while maintaining a directivity of 34 dB at 11.7 GHz. Also, a two-pole/two-zero filter is placed between the LNA and the beamformer chip to greatly attenuate any transmit leakage signal at 14–14.5 GHz. The lightweight, low-cost PCB with all silicon chips and a thickness of 3.4 mm presents a viable candidate for Ku-band SATCOM ground and Satcom-On-The-Move (SOTM) terminals.

Two‐port ring shaped MIMO antenna with quad‐band

This article presents a quad-band multiple-input multiple-output antenna with two-element. Its radiator, composed of four rings, realizes multi-band function, and isolation between the two antenna elements is improved by using the cross-shaped defective ground structure and the goblet shaped stub at the center of the back ground plane. The total size of the design is only 25 mm × 32 mm, but it can obtain good performance in the four frequency bands (4.6-5.0 GHz, 6.82-7.83 GHz, 10.3-10.8 GHz, and 14.1-16.96 GHz), which can be concluded from the simulation and measurement results on the desired bands: (a) the input reflection coefficient (S11) less than −17 dB, (b) the isolation (S21) better than −15 dB, (c) the envelope correlation coefficient below 0.04 and the peak gain greater than 1.23 dBi. The proposed antenna is suitable for wireless communication of small unmanned aerial vehicle operating in the beyond-line-of-sight range. The first of the four bands (4.6-5.0 GHz) is used for 5G cellular network communication and the other three bands can be applied for downlink of X-band (7.25-7.75 GHz) satellite communication, X-band (8-12 GHz) and Ku-band (12-18 GHz) satellite communication, respectively.

Additively manufactured high gain cavity backed Ku-band slot antenna

Cavity backed slot antenna covering entire Ku-band satellite communications frequency band (10.5–14.5 GHz) is designed and manufactured using both 3D printing and traditional metal milling for performance comparison. Four cavity backed radiating slots are fed with a waveguide aperture and a stub along the aperture magnetic field is placed to improve the antenna gain and to reduce the mutual coupling among the slots. Measured fractional bandwidth is 38% for both antennas. Measured gain in the target bandwidth is up to 13.1 dBi and 13.5 dBi for 3D-printed and all-metallic variant, respectively. Average HPBW in E-plane is 34° throughout the band. Antenna height is only 0.78λ at the center frequency including the stub and the feed waveguide, and its transverse dimensions are 1.51λ by 1.82λ. Wideband, high-gain, light weight, and small form factor features of the proposed antenna can be used in array form for satellite and radiolink communications.

DGS Loaded Broadband Circular Patch Antenna for Satellite Communications

Broadband slotted circular patch antenna with Defective Ground Structure intended for Ku band satellite communications is presented in this communication. The proposed antenna has a fundamental circular radiating element in which a square ring slot is etched along with a circular slot inside it. The ground is etched with a rhombus ring slot at the center and square slots in the corners. The defective ground provides multiple frequencies of operation and the slots in the radiating element act as filters combining the multiple frequencies of operation into broadband. The antenna is fabricated on an FR4 substrate with a volume of 40mm×48mm×1.59mm and a dielectric constant of 4.4. The antenna has been excited using a stripline feed of 50Ω impedance. The proposed antenna has an impedance bandwidth of 1.87GHz ranging from 13.61GHz to 15.48GHz with gain and directivity of 2.2dB and 6.09dB at 13.84GHz, 2.8dB and 5.47dB at 14.48GHz, respectively. The simulated and measured antenna results are in good agreement, showing that the proposed techniques enhance the antenna bandwidth.

Miniaturised multiband e-shaped structure microstrip antenna for satellite communication

Microstrip antenna technology has been designed of an E-Shaped antenna structure for Ku-band satellite communication application such as broadcasting, remote sensing and space communication. The proposed E- Shaped structure antenna is used to operate the frequency bands, 2.39 GHz and 2.44 GHz with a return loss less than -20.4 dB. The concept of microstrip based lossy characteristics impedance; hence the effect of high frequency is included in the procedure The proposed E-Shaped structure has been designed with dielectric FR4 epoxy substrate of dimension (60mm X 50mm), dielectric constant €r = 4.4 and height = 1.8mm and it is fed by coaxial cable 50 Ω matching impedance with the bandwidth of 480 MHz and 640 MHz. The Proposed E-Shaped structure which operates the resonating frequencies in various wireless communication and satellite communication applications. The proposed antenna structure parameters have been analyzed and simulated by using HFSS tool. The simulated results for the proposed antenna are in good results for VSWR, radiation pattern, Gain, Return Loss and Efficiency

SATCOM용 타일형 송신 위상배열안테나 시스템 설계

This paper presents the design, manufacture, and performance test results of a highly integrated tile-type transmit (Tx)-phased array antenna for Ku-band satellite communication, which comprises an RF/ANT board and four multi-layer boards. The electrical performance test of the antenna demonstrated a gain and beamwidth of 24 dBi and 12° at the center of the operating frequency in the Ku-band, respectively. Furthermore, the beam squint performance was less than 3° when the steering angles were 0° and 40° in the phi and theta directions, respectively. With the proposed tile-type antenna, a conformal phased array antenna can be produced for satellite communication in the Ku-band.

Design of a Broadband Coplanar Waveguide-Fed Antenna Incorporating Organic Solar Cells with 100% Insolation for Ku Band Satellite Communication.

A broadband coplanar waveguide (CPW)-fed monopole antenna based on conventional CPW-fed integration with an organic solar cell (OSC) of 100% insolation is suggested for Ku band satellite communication. The proposed configuration was designed to allow for 100% insolation of the OSC, thereby improving the performance of the antenna. The device structure was fabricated using a Leiterplatten-Kopierfrasen (LPKF) prototyping Printed circuit board (PCB) machine, while a vector network analyzer was utilized to measure the return loss. The simulated results demonstrated that the proposed antenna was able to cover an interesting operating frequency band from 11.7 to 12.22 GHz, which is in compliance with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Consequently, a 3 GHz broadband in the Ku band was achieved, along with an enhancement in the realized gain of about 6.30 dB. The simulation and experimental results showed good agreement, whereby the proposed structure could be specifically useful for fixed-satellite-services (FSS) operating over the frequency range from the 11.7 to 12.22 GHz (downlink) band.

Additively manufactured trapezoidal grooves for wideband and high gain Ku‐band antenna

Grooves around aperture antennas are known to be instrumental in obtaining directive antenna patterns. The shapes of the grooves are often restricted to rectangular or triangular due to manufacturing difficulties in traditional metal machining, and because of this reason, the effect of groove shape on antenna performance is often overlooked. The aim of this study is to analyze different groove shapes with the help of additive manufacturing. Waveguide slot fed, dual cavity aperture antenna with grooves is designed and the effect of groove shapes on antenna performance is studied at Ku band. Two antennas with and without grooves are built using 3D printing technology. Measured antenna performance reveals 5 GHz bandwidth covering 10 to 15 GHz for Ku-band satellite communications and part of the X-band applications. Proposed antenna achieves 13.25 dBi peak gain at 14 GHz and the gain is better than 11.25 dBi over the entire Ku-band uplink and downlink frequency bands.