Experimental Verification of D-Plane Performance in a 1024-Element SATCOM Phased-Array Transmitter

This work introduces a phased-array transmitter that achieves dual circular polarization (CP) for Ka-band satellite communications (SATCOM). Radiating elements incorporate a cavity-loaded double-layer metasurface that supports multimode resonance and extends the operating bandwidth while preserving a wide-angle axial ratio (AR) beamwidth. A prototype comprised of 1024 antenna elements implemented on a scalable single-board platform demonstrates reliable D-plane performance through experimental validation. Measurements demonstrate that the transmitter attains an effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of 72 dBm at 29 GHz and supports scanning angles of ±70°, wideband and wide-angle AR, and sidelobe levels (SLLs) below –10 dB across all scan angles and frequencies. This design offers a significant advancement in cost-effective SATCOM systems.