Terrestrial based inflatable dish antenna performance characterization

Author

Lowe, Larry T. ; Gierow, Paul ; Danis, Al

Author_Institution

Phase IV Syst. Inc., Huntsville, AL, USA

fYear

2005

fDate

3-8 July 2005

Firstpage

458

Abstract

The authors have developed terrestrial-based inflatable dish antennas that demonstrate a significant reduction in weight, volume, and cost when compared to conventional rigid ground-based parabolic dish antennas. The inflatable dish antennas are constructed using high strength, lightweight, thin film polymers used in space-based deployable structures. To date, inflatable dish antennas have been constructed with aperture sizes of 2.5m and 5.0m. End-to-end datalinks have been established over multiple commercial Ku-band satcom satellites using the inflatable antennas. The antenna performance is characterized with near-field and far-field tests. Limited environmental testing has also been conducted. In this paper the antenna characterization environmental tests are described and the results are presented.

Keywords

antenna radiation patterns; antenna testing; aperture antennas; dielectric thin films; microwave antennas; polymer films; satellite communication; aperture sizes; commercial Ku-band satcom satellites; end-to-end datalinks; environmental testing; far-field tests; lightweight thin film polymers; near-field tests; performance characterization; reduced cost; reduced volume; reduced weight; terrestrial based inflatable dish antenna; Antenna measurements; Apertures; Conductive films; Feeds; Military standards; Polymer films; Radio frequency; Receiving antennas; Satellite antennas; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 2005 IEEE

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8883-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APS.2005.1552045

Filename

1552045