A new efficient method for the analysis of the far field of a satellite Earth station antenna in the presence of near field obstacles

A new method for the investigation of the radiation pattern of a satellite Earth station antenna in the presence of a near-field obstacle has been successfully developed. The method is based on the use of the ray tracing approach combined with power coupling theory. The method has been extensively used to analyze the radiation pattern of an Earth station antenna partially blocked by 2D obstacles and results compared with the PO analysis. This new method can guarantee high accuracy for field predictions as is confirmed from the comparison with the PO approach. The problem of the necessary long computation time of PO, which can be very high in a cluttered environment, is overcome by this more efficient approach that takes advantage of the fast computation of ray methods without sacrificing accuracy. This new method is also more flexible for analyzing the effects of a number of local objects surrounding the Earth station antenna. It can be practically applied by Earth station operators to predict high unexpected sidelobes, localize possible areas of intense electromagnetic field and consequently be able to chose the most suitable place to install the antenna on a given site