Investigation of Flat Plate Reflectors

In January 2007, a Zeppelin NT airship was used by NICT for a 28/30GHz point-to-point relay demonstration. A mechanically steered plane reflector with a corrugated horn- lens feed was used as the transmit antenna during the demonstration. In this initial numerical study to gain a better understanding of this type of reflector antenna, a planar feed is investigated which would enable a considerable reduction in the size and weight of the antenna system by the removal of the horn-lens feed. It was found that the commercially available software FEKO™ can be used to model this type of antenna, scan range of ±45° is feasible with minimal gain loss and pattern distortion, and that higher gain feeds are best to reduce spillover losses.