ADVANCED COFMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SATELLITE (ACTS)

MULTIBEAM ANTENNA ANALYSIS AND EXPERIMENT

Roberto J . Acosta, J e f f Larko and Adabelle Narvaez

National Aerospace and Space A d m i n i s t r a t i o n
Lewis Research Center
Cleveland, Ohio

Alan R. Lagin
Anal ex Corporation
Cleveland, Ohio

Abstract
One o f t h e most important aspects o f a s a t e l l i t e communication system design
i s t h e accurate e s t i m a t i o n o f antenna performance degradation ( P o i n t i n g e r r o r ,
end coverage gain, peak gain degradation, e t c . are o f main concern). The
thermal o r dynamic d i s t o r t i o n s o f a r e f l e c t o r antenna s t r u c t u r a l system can
a f f e c t t h e f a r - f i e l d antenna power d i s t r i b u t i o n i n a t l e a s t f o u r ways.
1. The antenna g a i n i s reduce, 2. The main lobe o f t h e antenna can be mis-
p o i n t e d thus s h i f t i n g t h e d e s t i n a t i o n o f the d e l i v e r e d power away from the
desired l o c a t i o n s 3.The main lobe o f t h e antenna p a t t e r n can. be broadened thus
spreading t h e RF power over a l a r g e r area than d e s i r e d 4. The antenna
p a t t e r n sidelobes can increase thus increasing t h e chances o f i n t e r f e r e n c e
among adjacent beams o f a m u l t i p l e beam antenna system o r w i t h antenna beams
o f o t h e r s a t e l l i t e s . The in-house developed NASA Lewis Research Center
thermal/structural/RF analysis program was designed t o accurate simulate the
ACTS i n - o r b i t thermal environment and p r e d i c t t h e RF antenna performance. The
program combines w e l l e s t a b l i s h computer programs (TRASYS,SINDA and NASTRAN)
w i t h a dual r e f l e c t o r - p h y s i c a l o p t i c s RF analysis program. The ACTS multibeam
antenna c o n f i g u r a t i o n i s analyzed and several thermal cases are presented and
compared w i t h measurements ( p r e - f l i g h t ) .

Introduction

The ACTS multibeam antenna system ( f i g u r e 1.) c o n s i s t s o f a separate Ka-band

(30/20 GHz) antennas, each w i t h h o r i z o n t a l and v e r t i c a l p o l a r i z a t i o n sub-
r e f l e c t o r s . The o f f s e t Cassegrian antenna system provides two hopping spot
beam f a m i l i e s (east and west) p l u s t h r e e f i x e d spot beams. The east and west
f a m i l i e s are d i s c r i m i n a t e d by p o l a r i z a t i o n . The east f a m i l y o f beams compris-
es an east scan s e c t o r and a d d i t i o n a l spot beams f o r i s o l a t e d - l o c a t i o n
coverage o u t s i d e t h e sector. The west f a m i l y comprises a west scan sector,
a d d i t i o n a l spot beams f o r i s o l a t e d - l o c a t i o n coverage o u t s i d e the s e c t o r , and a
steerable spot beam. W i t h i n t h e beams access w i l l be by demand-assigned
m u l t i p l e access (DAMA) using time d i v i s i o n m u l t i p l e access (TDMA) transmis-
sion. The multibeam communication center package provides t h e means f o r
r e c e i v i n g , processing, switching, amp1 i f y i n g , and t r a n s m i t t i n g s i g n a l s t h a t
c a r r y high-speed d i g i t a l communication t r a f f i c .

0-7803-0730-5192 $3 00 0 1992 IEEE 1356

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 ACTS Multibeam Antenna Configuration ( t r a n s m i t t i n g case)

The ACTS dual r e f l e c t o r ( f r o n t sub-reflector) geometry ( f i g u r e 2) i s analyzed.

This c o n f i g u r a t i o n consists o f parabolic main r e f l e c t o r w i t h a f o c a l length o f
132 inches, and hyperbolic s u b - r e f l e c t o r (cassegrian c o n f i g u r a t i o n ) . The feed
i s located a t t h e Cleveland spot beam. The feed i s modeled w i t h measured E
and H plane f a r - f i e l d antenna pattern.

Discussion and Results

The ACTS MBA t r a n s m i t t i n g c o n f i g u r a t i o n was simulated using t h e thermal/struc-

ture/dual r e f l e c t o r - p h y s i c a l o p t i c s computer program. Several cases a r e
presented and i t s antenna performance calculated. One o f t h e l i m i t a t i o n o f
our model i s t h a t i t does not include t h e grided c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h e f r o n t
sub-reflector. I t assumes t h a t t h e s u b - r e f l e c t o r i s a s o l i d p e r f e c t conduc-
t o r . Also t h e p o i n t s generated by thermal/structure p o r t i o n o f t h e analysis
program are i n t e r p o l a t e d by using e i t h e r polynomial s p l i n e a l g o r i t h m (3th
order) or a 4 t h order polynomial. The i d e a l f a r - f i e l d antenna performance f o r
the Cleveland spot beam (case 1 ) i s shown i n f i g u r e 3. The surface p o i n t s were
generated using a n a l y t i c equations. I t s c a l c u l a t e d eak d i r e c t i v i t y i s 55.45
db. Figure 4 shows t h e simulated p r e - f l i g h t (case 27 antenna f a r - f i e l d
pattern. I n t h i s case t h e surface p o i n t s are measured w i t h a main r e f l e c t o r
rms o f 5 m i l s . The calculated d i r e c t i v i t y was 54.45 db. Case 3 simulates an
i n - o r b i t case representing t h e spacecraft max c o l d thermal cycle. The antenna
performance i s presented i n f i g u r e 5. The c a l c u l a t e d d i r e c t i v i t y i s 54.01 db.
For comparison purposes t h e measured p r e - f l i g h t antenna p a t t e r n f o r t h e
Cleveland spot beam i s presented i n f i g u r e 6.

A l l t h e antenna p a t t e r n are very s i m i l a r i s shape t o t h e measured p a t t e r n ,

s l i g h t differences i n gain ( l e s s 0.5 db) and sidelobe l e v e l (1-3db) are
observed. The discrepancies are mainly due t o s u b - r e f l e c t o r modeling, feed
modeling and surface e r r o r s i n t e r p o l a t i o n . The o v e r a l l simulation r e s u l t s
were i n agreement w i t h t h e measurements. The thermal/structure/RF analysis
program could provide an i n d i r e c t means o f v e r i f y i n g i n - o r b i t antenna p e r f o r -
mance.

References

1. Acosta, R.J.;Active Feed Array Compensation f o r R e f l e c t o r Antenna

Surface D i s t o r t i o n s , NASA TM-100826, June 1988.

2. Sharp, G.R.;Acosta R.J.;Bobisnsky, E.A. and Shaker, F.J.; A Conceptual

System Design f o r Antenna Thermal and Dynamic D i s t o r t i o n Compensation
Using Phased Array Feed. Second NASA/DOD Control/Structures I n t e r a c t i o n
Technology Conference, Colorado Spring, CO, Novemeber 17-19, 1987.

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