Design of a Software Radio Prototype for the Analysis of Beamformers in Satellite Communications

Earth stations for downloading data from LEO satellites use large reflector antennas (usually, with diameters over 12 m for telemetry links). These antennas pose a number of impairments regarding their mechanical complexity, flexibility, network efficiency (only one satellite can be tracked at a time) and cost. In order to improve the performance of traditional earth stations, the feasibility of other antenna technologies must be evaluated. This paper presents a prototype for an antenna array receiver based on software radio applied to satellite communications. The aim of the prototype is to prove the concept of antenna arrays for tracking LEO satellites under different conditions and beamforming algorithms.