Reflector distortion compensation system for multiple-beam wave satellite antennas
AssigneeAgence Spatiale Europeenne
InventorsAntonio Saitto, Giovanni Mica
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to a multibeam antenna reflector distortion compensation system comprising at least one remote reference radio frequency transmitter cooperating with a feed cluster of a beam forming network which includes one central and at least two peripheral feed elements, means for producing error signals including a circuit for consecutively connecting each peripheral cluster feed element to one input of an adding circuit, and the central feed element to the other input after appropriate attenuation and phase compensation of the central feed signal, and means for down-converting linear and non-linear distortion correction signals based on the down-converter output.
Claims7
A reflector distortion compensation system for multibeam antennas, and comprising:
- a reflector and at least one beam forming network having a symmetrical arrangement of peripheral feeds around a central feed;
- means for detecting distortions in said reflector, said detecting means comprising a remote transmitter providing a transmit signal to said feeds via said reflector and such that rays of said transmit signal are substantially parallel with each other when arriving at said reflector, a circuit having one input connected to said central feed and another input selectively switchable between at least two of said peripheral feeds in order to obtain linear and non-linear error signals from said circuit in response to corresponding linear and non-linear distortions;
- means for generating linear and non-linear distortion correction signals in response to said error signals;
- and
- means for correcting said linear and non-linear distortions of said reflector by correcting an attitude of said reflector and characteristics of said beam forming network as required.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.