Reliability Design for Gaofen-3 Satellite Phased Array Antenna

The Gaofen-3 satellite is a polarimetric SAR working in C band with high SAR imaging resolution. Moreover, it is also the first C band remote sensing satellite designed up to 8 years life. The active phased antenna of the SAR is capable of scanning in two principal planes. The antenna array is composed of four panels and 24 modules totally. The reliability design and evaluations of corresponding tests about satellite are introduced in this paper. By using main malfunction analysis, the reliability evaluation pattern and method are proposed. Through reliability validation, the ground experiment results are obtained. The orbiting reliability life is also obtained according to the reliability evaluation of the space-borne phased array antenna. In addition, the proposed method provides a significant guideline for reliability design of AESA.