Antennas on satellites

The antennas on board the satellite are typically limited in size to around 2 - 3 metres by the space that
is available on the satellite structure.

Antennas on satellite ground station

Ground antennas used for receiving satellite signals and transmitting to the satellites vary considerably
according to their application.

The size of the antennas may vary considerably. The parabolic reflectors used for satellite television
reception are very small. However those used for professional applications are much larger and may
range up to several tens of metres in size.

Types of Antennas

Horn Antenna The waveguide has come to this portion. The certain volume of electromagnetic wave
comes here with high energy. For radiation, the horn antenna acts like a radial source

Parabolic or Reflector Antenna All waves coming from the source and reflected by the parabola will
travel in the same distance by the time they reach the directrix, no matter from what point on the
parabola they are reflected.

Types of Parabolic Antennas

Cassegrain Antenna The feed is located on or behind the dish, and radiates forward, illuminating
a convex hyperboloid secondary reflector at the focus of the dish

Gregorian Antenna Similar to the Cassegrain design except that the secondary reflector is
concave, ellipsoidal in shape.
Basic Aperture antenna definitions and relationships

Principle of reciprocity- The principle of reciprocity is of fundamental importance in antenna

theory and practice since the properties of a particular antenna can be determined either by
analysis or measurement, with the antenna as a transmitter or as a 84 Satellite communication
systems receiver. In practice, for computational analysis the, antenna is generally assumed to be
in the transmit mode, whereas for measurements the antenna is assumed to be receiving.

Antenna radiation pattern A transmitting antenna does not radiate uniformly in all angular
directions, " nor does a receiving antenna detect energy uniformly from all directions. This
directional selectivity of an antenna is characterised in terms of its radiation pattern. This pattern
is a plot of rel<;itive strength of radiated field, amplitude and phase, as a function ofthe angular
parameters, eand ¢, of a spherical coordinate system for a constant radius, r. The amplitude of
this pattern is most important and can be expressed as a relative power or field pattern
(normalised to unity maximum) or a logarithmic decibel pattern (with a maximum of odB). The
antenna radiation pattern, which typically comprises a main beam and a sidelobe structure, is
commonly depicted as a two-dimensional plot as illustrated in Figure 5.1. For antennas with
dimensions small compared to the wavelength, a polar plot, Figure 5.1a, is often employed. As
the antenna dimension increases, a more detailed picture of the radiation pattern is achieved
using a cartesian plot, Figure 5.1b, since the width of the main beam decreases and the
periodicity of the sidelobe region increases. Such a representation is generally employed for
earth-station antennas. Satellite antenna radiation patterns are often expressed as isogain
contour plots which are superimposed on the coverage area, as illustrated in Figure 5.lc. In this
case only that portion of the radiation pattern which is actually incident on the earth's surface is
of interest. The peak of the main beam represents the highest level of field strength and
approximately 70 per cent of the radiated energy is enclosed in the main-beam region. The
sidelobe region represents a potential source ofinterference into the communications link and
for this reason is generally required to be of low level.