Deployable lens antenna

A method for manufacturing a deployable lens for an antenna, the lens comprising an array of metallic lens elements formed on a plurality of interlinked sections of an at least partially flexible dielectric substrate, wherein each lens element comprises a first end-fire element directed towards a feed side of the lens, a second end-fire element directed towards a non-feed side of the lens and a section of transmission line for coupling signals between the first and second end-fire elements, wherein the section of transmission line is arranged to apply a delay to said signals according to the position of the lens element within the aperture of the lens as deployed, wherein the lens as deployed comprises a cellular structure of open-ended cells, wherein one of said lens elements is formed on at least one wall of each cell the method comprising the steps of:

• (i) from a flexible sheet of dielectric material having a metal layer applied thereto, forming, in the metal layer, one or more rows of said lens elements required to form the lens, each lens element comprising a back-to-back pair of said end-fire antenna elements;
• (ii) selecting a first row and a second row of lens elements from those formed at step (i) comprising those lens elements that will form a given group of cells of lens elements in the lens as deployed and placing said rows in parallel association such that, for a given cell in the lens as deployed, a lens element in the first row that will be adjacent within the cell to a lens element in the second row are aligned;
• (iii) bonding the first and second rows together along a bonding line or bonding region associated with each aligned pair of lens elements;
• and
• (iv) repeating steps (ii) and (iii) until all rows of lens elements required to form the lens have been selected and bonded together.