Development of Enabling Technologies for Ku-Band Airborne SATCOM Phased-Arrays

• Main Authors: Alfredo Catalani, Giovanni Toso, Piero Angeletti, Mario Albertini, Pasquale Russo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
• Series: Electronics
• Subjects: active phased arrays; phased array antennas; mmic; mobile antenna systems; satellite communications
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/9/3/488
• ISSN: 2079-9292

In the paper the development of a fully electronic transmit-receive phased-array antenna system in Ku-band for aircraft communications via satellite is presented. Particular emphasis has been placed in the improvement of the following key elements: a dual-polarization self-diplexing radiating element, a transmit/receive active module with full polarization agility based on a digital vector modulator and a SiGe multinode MMIC. The optimized antenna elements enable a significant improvement towards the realization of a future affordable commercial product for satellite communications.