Physical-optics analysis and design of a beam-forming network coupled to an imaging-system configuration for Ka-band satellite applications

This paper describes the co-design of a dual-reflector imaging array fed by a pillbox Beam Forming Network (BFN) using Physical Optics (PO). Both systems are studied separately and then combined. The final results demonstrate that such a co-design is an innovative way to reduce the overall phase aberrations induced by the imaging system and the quasi-optical beamformer. The proposed antenna has been designed in Ka-band for Earth multispot coverage.