LOW-COST DIPLEXED MULTIPLE BEAM INTEGRATED ANTENNA SYSTEM FOR LEOSATELLITE CONSTELLATION
First Claim
1. An integrated antenna system for a satellite, said antenna system comprising:
- a support structure including a base plate and a strut assembly mounted to the base plate and defining an enclosure, said support structure further including an alignment plate mounted to the strut assembly opposite to the base plate;
a plurality of feed horns mounted to the alignment plate in a rigid manner so that each feed horn has a predetermined pointing direction, each feed horn including a plurality of tapered sections defining transitions therebetween that support propagation modes for both up-link signals and down-link signals, each feed horn further including an input end and an aperture end;
a plurality of septum polarizers where a separate septum polarizer is coupled to the input end of each feed horn, each septum polarizer converting circularly polarized signals to linearly polarized signals for the up-link signals received by the feed horn and converting linearly polarized signals to circularly polarized signals for the down-link signals to be transmitted by the feed horn;
a Y-shaped waveguide including a polarizer port, a transmit leg and a receive leg, said polarizer port being coupled to the septum polarizer opposite to the feed horn, wherein the receive leg includes a transmit reject filter for selectively passing the up-link signals and rejecting the down-link signals and the transmit leg includes a receive reject filter for selectively passing the down-link signals and rejecting the up-link signals;
an RF circuit board mounted on the base plate within the enclosure and including a plurality of RF modules for processing the up-link and down-link signals; and
a plurality of flex waveguides where a separate flex waveguide is coupled to the receive leg of each Y-shaped waveguide and one of the RF modules and coupled to the transmit leg of each Y-shaped waveguide and one of the RF modules to direct the down-link signals from the RF module to the transmit leg and direct the up-link signals from the receive leg to the RF module.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multiple beam integrated antenna system for a satellite including a support structure having an alignment plate. The antenna system further includes a plurality of feed horns mounted to the alignment plate, where each feed horn includes a plurality of tapered sections that support propagation modes for both up-link signals and down-link signals. A septum polarizer is mounted to an input end of each feed horn that converts linearly polarized signals to circularly polarized signals for the up-link signals and converts circularly polarized signals to linearly polarized signals for the down-link signals. A Y-shaped waveguide is coupled to each of the polarizers and includes separate receive reject and transmit reject filters so as to keep the up-link signals and the down-link signals from interfering with each other. Flex waveguides couple the transmit leg and the receive leg of each Y-shaped waveguide to RF modules.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. An integrated antenna system for a satellite, said antenna system comprising:
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a support structure including a base plate and a strut assembly mounted to the base plate and defining an enclosure, said support structure further including an alignment plate mounted to the strut assembly opposite to the base plate; a plurality of feed horns mounted to the alignment plate in a rigid manner so that each feed horn has a predetermined pointing direction, each feed horn including a plurality of tapered sections defining transitions therebetween that support propagation modes for both up-link signals and down-link signals, each feed horn further including an input end and an aperture end; a plurality of septum polarizers where a separate septum polarizer is coupled to the input end of each feed horn, each septum polarizer converting circularly polarized signals to linearly polarized signals for the up-link signals received by the feed horn and converting linearly polarized signals to circularly polarized signals for the down-link signals to be transmitted by the feed horn; a Y-shaped waveguide including a polarizer port, a transmit leg and a receive leg, said polarizer port being coupled to the septum polarizer opposite to the feed horn, wherein the receive leg includes a transmit reject filter for selectively passing the up-link signals and rejecting the down-link signals and the transmit leg includes a receive reject filter for selectively passing the down-link signals and rejecting the up-link signals; an RF circuit board mounted on the base plate within the enclosure and including a plurality of RF modules for processing the up-link and down-link signals; and a plurality of flex waveguides where a separate flex waveguide is coupled to the receive leg of each Y-shaped waveguide and one of the RF modules and coupled to the transmit leg of each Y-shaped waveguide and one of the RF modules to direct the down-link signals from the RF module to the transmit leg and direct the up-link signals from the receive leg to the RF module. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A diplexed multiple beam integrated antenna system comprising:
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a plurality of feed horns mounted to an alignment plate so that each feed horn has a predetermined pointing direction, each feed horn including a plurality of tapered sections defining transitions therebetween that support multiple propagation modes, each feed horn further including an input end and an aperture end; a plurality of polarizers where a separate polarizer is coupled to the input end of each feed horn, each polarizer converting circularly polarized signals to linearly polarized signals for receive signals received by the feed horn and converting linearly polarized signals to circularly polarized signals for transmit signals to be transmitted by the feed horn; a filter waveguide including a polarizer port, a transmit leg and a receive leg, where the transmit leg and the receive leg are isolated by more than 20 dB, said polarizer port being coupled to the polarizer opposite to the feed horn, wherein the receive leg includes a transmit reject filter for selectively passing the receive signals and rejecting the transmit signals and the transmit leg includes a receive reject filter for selectively passing the transmit signals and rejecting the receive signals; an RF circuit board including a plurality of RF modules for processing the receive and transmit signals; a plurality of flex waveguides where a separate flex waveguide is coupled to the receive leg of each filter waveguide and one of the RF modules and the transmit leg of each filter waveguide and one of the RF modules to direct the transmit signals from the RF module to the transmit leg and direct the receive signals from the receive leg to the RF module; and a combination of septum polarizer with isolated ports and the filters providing the desired isolation between the up-link and down-link RF signals. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An integrated antenna system for a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, said antenna system comprising:
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a support structure including a base plate and a strut assembly mounted to the base plate and defining an enclosure, said support structure further including an alignment plate mounted to the strut assembly opposite to the base plate; nineteen feed horns mounted to the alignment plate in a rigid manner so that each feed horn has a predetermined pointing direction, each feed horn including a plurality of tapered sections defining transitions therebetween that support propagation modes for both up-link signals and down-link signals, each feed horn further including an input end and an aperture end, wherein a down-link frequency band for the down-link signals is separated into four separate frequency channels and an up-link frequency band for the up-link signals is separated into two separate frequency channels, where a plurality of the feed horns operate at the frequency for a particular frequency channel and where the feed horns operating at the same down-link frequency channel are not adjacent to each other; a plurality of septum polarizers where a separate septum polarizer is coupled to the input end of each feed horn, each septum polarizer converting linearly polarized signals to circularly polarized signals for the up-link signals received by the feed horn and converting circularly polarized signals to linearly polarized signals for the down-link signals to be transmitted by the feed horn; a Y-shaped waveguide including a polarizer port, a transmit leg and a receive leg, said polarizer port being coupled to the septum polarizer opposite to the feed horn, wherein the receive leg includes a transmit reject filter for selectively passing the up-link signals and rejecting the down-link signals and the transmit leg includes a receive reject filter for selectively passing the down-link signals and rejecting the up-link signals; an RF circuit board mounted on the base plate within the enclosure and including a plurality of RF modules for processing the up-link and down-link signals; and a plurality of flex waveguides where a separate flex waveguide is coupled to the receive leg of each Y-shaped waveguide and one of the RF modules and coupled to the transmit leg of each Y-shaped waveguide and one of the RF modules to direct the down-link signals from the RF module to the transmit leg and direct the up-link signals from the receive leg to the RF module. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification