Strut shaping of 34m Beam Waveguide antenna for reductions in near-field RF and noise temperature

Author

Khayatian, Behrouz ; Hoppe, Daniel J. ; Britcliffe, Michael J. ; Gama, Eric

Author_Institution

Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

8-14 July 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

2

Abstract

Strut shaping of NASA´s Deep Space Network (DSN) 34m Beam Waveguide (BWG) antenna has been implemented to reduce near-field RF exposure while improving the antenna noise temperature. Strut shaping was achieved by introducing an RF shield that does not compromise the structural integrity of the existing antenna. Reduction in the RF near-field level will compensate for the planned transmit power increase of the antenna from 20 kW to 80 kW while satisfying safety requirements for RF exposure. Measured antenna noise temperature was also improved by as much as 1.5 K for the low elevation angles and 0.5 K in other areas.

Keywords

electromagnetic shielding; near-field communication; radiofrequency power transmission; space communication links; waveguide antennas; DSN BWG antenna; DSN beam waveguide antenna; NASA deep space network; RF exposure; RF shield; antenna noise temperature; antenna structural integrity; low elevation angles; near-field RF exposure reduce; noise temperature; power 20 kW to 80 kW; power transmission planning; strut shaping; Antenna measurements; Antennas; Land surface temperature; Noise; Radio frequency; Temperature measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium (APSURSI), 2012 IEEE

Conference_Location

Chicago, IL

ISSN

1522-3965

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-0461-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APS.2012.6349018

Filename

6349018