An experimental study of electrical characteristics of mesh reflecting surface for communication satellite antenna

While mesh material is often used for the reflecting surface of satellite antennas because it is lightweight and elastic due to its stitched structure, little research and development have been done for the mesh reflecting surface used for the satellite antenna using the frequency such as the Ka-band. A large deployable antenna with 7-m diameter, which provides communications service in the Ka-band, was proposed by the Communications Research Laboratory of Japan, in the framework ´of the research on the Japanese Highly Elliptic Orbital satellite system called the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System. This paper describes the measurements of the electrical characteristics of the mesh reflecting surface to investigate if the mesh is suitable for the Ka-band of frequency.