SANTANA: Advanced Electronically Steerable Antennas at Ka-Band
Conference: EuCAP 2009 - 3rd European Conference on Antennas and Propagation
03/23/2009 - 03/27/2009 at Berlin, Germany
Proceedings: EuCAP 2009
Pages: 8Language: englishTyp: PDF
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Authors:
Stark, A.; Geise, A.; Jacob, A. F.; Kuhlmann, K. (TU Hamburg-Harburg, Hochfrequenztechnik, 21073 Hamburg, Germany)
Dreher, A.; Heckler, M. V. T. (DLR, Inst. für Kommunikation und Navigation, 82230 Wessling, Germany)
Fischer, H.; Gieron, R.; Holzwarth, S.; Litschke, O.; Lohmann, D.; Simon, W. (IMST GmbH, 47475 Kamp-Lintfort, Germany)
Hunscher, C. (Astrium GmbH, 81663 München, Germany)
Wötzel, F. (EPAK GmbH, 04179 Leipzig, Germany)
Zahn, D. (RHe Microsystems GmbH, 01454 Radeberg, Germany)
Abstract:
This paper presents the background, the vision, and the motivation of the SANTANA project (Smart Antenna Terminal). Recent realizations of electronically steerable receive (Rx) and transmit (Tx) antennas for satellite communications at Ka-Band are shown. In detail, the integration and packaging techniques of frontend modules, which combine the antenna, the RF circuitry, and the cooling system within one functional block, are discussed. In addition, a novel digital beam steering concept as well as a hybrid beam steering approach are addressed. It will be shown that these system concepts can be applied to large antenna arrays as needed to fulfill link budget requirements for the intended satellite communications.