Physical optics modeling of a pillbox as a beam forming network for a large imaging system in satellite communications

Communications systems in Ka-band are an expanding research field for satellite applications due to the increasing demand of high data-rate links. The coverture of the certain Earth region by smaller spot sizes is a fundamental issue, based on efficient multiple-beam antenna designs. These antennas are composed by a beam forming network driving several sources illuminating a focusing system of large reflectors. In this work, we propose a Ka band satellite system whose radiating part is an imaging system consisting of two confocal parabolas. The beam forming network is composed of two arrays of parabolic pillboxes (Ettorre et al., IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., 1093–1100, 2011), realized in parallel-plate technology, in order to scan the beam direction along two orthogonal axes.