Paving the Way for Higher-Volume Cost-Effective Space Antennas: Designing for manufacturing, assembly, integration, and test

The commercial satellite industry, which has primarily been focused on highly customized geostationary satellites, is seeing increasing interest in constellations of small satellites (smallsats) operating in nongeostationary orbits. These smallsat constellations require larger quantities of antennas that are cost-/mass-effective and compact. Ideally, this is achieved by designing for manufacturing, assembly, integration, and test (DFMAIT). Maxar Technologies Company (MDA), a global leader in antenna systems, developed its expertise through R&D, establishing itself as a key supplier for antennas on constellations such as Iridium-NEXT, O3b, and OneWeb. These capabilities range from innovative steerable antenna designs, fastener-free feedchains, 3D-printed antennas as well as automated assembly and test setups. MDA is also leveraging this acquired knowledge to develop new products for future geostationary missions. This article describes the different antenna designs developed at MDA using the DFMAIT approach and presents automated test and integration setups developed for higher-volume production.