Computer simulation of radome scattering effects for the satellite communication earth stations

The authors investigate the electromagnetic scattering characteristics of metal space frame (MSF) radomes and assess their RF performance for the satellite communication earth station application. It is demonstrated that the current polarization specification used in the INTELSAT system can be met satisfactorily by MSF-radome-covered earth stations with conventional antennas. Typical radome co-polar and cross-polar scattering patterns are simulated and shown. It can be seen that the copolar-scattered fields, outside the main beam, have negligible effect on the copolar antenna pattern. Further, it is shown that the scattered cross-polar fields within the antenna tracking beamwidths are less than -40 dB down from the co-polar antenna pattern peak. The current INTELSAT V and VII specification is 30.7 dB for the cross-polarization purity level and hence adequate performance from the system enclosed with a radome is achieved.<>