Description
The objective of this activity is to design, develop and test enabling technologies for multi-frequency transmit active antennas. This will include antenna radiating elements, beamforming techniques (analogue vs hybrid), active elements customised in order to cover both the Ku and Ka transmit frequency bands, integrated into a breadboard. Targeted Improvements: Enabling dual Ku and Ka-band transmit active phased arrays. Description: Active antenna based satcom systems in Geostationary (GEO) and Non-Geostationary Orbits (NGSO) are under development worldwide, mainly adopting either the Ku or Ka frequency bands. However, there is a growing interest for active antennas to be able to cover both bands in order to better address user needs and increase flexibility. This activity will develop and test enabling technologies for Multifrequency transmit active phased array antenna and beamforming networks, seamlessly covering both the Ku and Ka frequency bands. A trade-off between analogue and hybrid beamforming solutions will be considered as a minimum. Implementation and assembly concepts of the radiating elements, beamforming networks and active components including, interleaved or overlapped architectures, together with an integration concept of both antenna elements will be developed. A detailed design covering RF, mechanical and thermal aspects will be carried out. A breadboard demonstrator capable of producing at least 2 beams in Ku and 2 beams in the Ka band (4 simultaneous beams) will be developed. Architectures of beamforming MMICs required for such multifrequency active phased arrays will be defined and developed per a European semiconductor process.