Antenna Requirements as Seen by an Operator

The requirements of the antennas implemented on Eutelsat satellites are becoming increasingly varied and challenging. Stringent frequency re-use imposes increased isolation requirements while the reflectors and feed assemblies have to operate over larger bandwidth and often multiple frequency bands. As the payload size increases, there is a tendency to increase the number of channels per feed. This pose issues relating to power handling and associated thermal aspects and Passive Intermodulations (PIMs). Furthermore, the number of distinct market areas that a single Eutelsat satellite has to address is also increasing and consequently a careful design of the antenna farm is needed, often presenting challenges for spacecraft accommodation. In 2010 Eutelsat ordered four satellites, W5A, W6A, EUROBIRD™ 2A and W3D, that exhibit a large number of coverages with frequency re-use and stringent antenna isolation requirements.