Enhanced directivity feed and feed array
AssigneeViaSat, Inc.
InventorsDonald L. Runyon, Anders Jensen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is a shaped horn in conjunction with a dielectric tube for enhanced aperture directivity that can achieve a near optimum efficiency. The shaped horn provides additional mode control to provide an improved off-axis cross-polarization response. The horn shape can be individually optimized for isolated horns or for horns in a feed array. The feed array environment can produce results that lead to a different optimized shape than the isolated horn. Lower off axis cross-polarization can result in improved efficiency and susceptibility to interference.
Claims38
An antenna comprising:
- a reflector;
- and
- a feed to illuminate the reflector, the feed comprising:
- a horn including a multi-flare mode conversion section having a plurality of flare angles between a first end and a second end;
- and
- a dielectric insert including a first portion extending through at least part of the multi-flare mode conversion section, and a second portion extending beyond an aperture of the horn,
- wherein the multi-flare mode conversion section and the first portion of the dielectric insert convert a signal between a dominant waveguide mode at the first end of the multi-flare mode conversion section and a hybrid mode at the first portion of the dielectric insert, and
- wherein the hybrid mode propagates along the second portion of the dielectric insert to define an illumination beam towards the reflector.
An antenna comprising:
- a reflector;
- and
- an array of feeds to illuminate the reflector, each feed of the array of feeds comprising:
- a horn including a multi-flare mode conversion section having a plurality of flare angles between a first end and a second end;
- and
- a dielectric insert including a first portion extending through at least part of the multi-flare mode conversion section, and a second portion extending beyond an aperture of the horn,
- wherein the multi-flare mode conversion section and the first portion of the dielectric insert convert a signal between a dominant waveguide mode at the first end of the multi-flare mode conversion section and a hybrid mode at the first portion of the dielectric insert, and
- wherein the hybrid mode propagates along the second portion of the dielectric insert to define an illumination beam towards the reflector.
A method of designing an antenna, the method comprising:
- designing a reflector of the antenna;
- positioning a feed to illuminate the reflector, the feed comprising a horn including a multi-flare mode conversion section having a first end and a second end, and a dielectric insert including a first portion and a second portion, the first portion extending through at least part of the multi-flare mode conversion section, and the second portion extending beyond an aperture of the horn;
- and
- iteratively adjusting one or more of a plurality of flare angles of the multi-flare mode conversion section and calculating a corresponding cross-polarization of an illumination beam of the feed directed towards the reflector, until the calculated cross-polarization is less than or equal to a particular value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.