Feed Systems for array-fed reflector scansar antennas

Dual linearly polarized feed systems illuminating a highly elliptical reflector antenna for scansar instruments are discussed. Linear arrays with elements sharing through reconfigurable beamforming networks (RBFN's) and/or stacked multimode sectorial horns operated on a single feed per beam basis are examined and compared. The initial design of the preferred solution, based on stacked multimode smoothed wall rectangular feeds is further presented.