Active array antenna with ceramic substrate for TDM/TDMA mobile satellite communications

A portable medium-gain active array antenna system is designed for mobile satellite communications. The system employs the an active MSA (microstrip antenna) with a ceramic substrate of high dielectric constant and digital beamforming . The small size of the MSA element, realized by the high dielectric, enables the array to have a diplexing function, separating the elements for TX (transmission) and RX (reception). To obtain complete isolation between TX and RX, TDM/TDMA is applied. The paper discusses the system configuration, designed for simplicity, and its steering performance compared to one with a PTFE(teflon) substrate, by simulation. The link budget is also calculated assuming the use of an engineering test satellite.<
>