Paper number 305

ULTRA LIGHTWEIGHT SATELLITE ANTENNA WITH STRETCHED SURFACE

Shigenori KABASHIMA1, Tsuyoshi OZAKI1, Toru TAKAHASHI2, Yoshihiko KONISHI2

1Advanced Technology R & D Center, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
1-1-57, Miyashimo, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 229-1195, Japan
2Information Technology R & D Center, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
5-1-1, Ofuna, Kamakura, Kanagawa, 247-8501,Japan

Summary A new telecommunication system based on inclined geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellites was proposed. The system employs several inclined GEO satellites mounted with deployable phased array antennas of which apertures are 44.8m. The antennas communicate with compact mobile terminals realizing 100,000 digital voice channels. Since conventional honeycomb sandwich structures are too heavy to build the antennas required for this system, a new composite structure that has composite frames and stretched mesh sheets has been developed. CFRP (Carbon fiber reinforced plastic) and triaxially woven Kevlar fabric were used for the frame and the mesh sheets, respectively. A phased array antenna with the new structure was fabricated and its electrical performance was evaluated.
Keywords phased array antenna, satellite communication system, inclined GEO satellite, lightweight structure.

Theme : Industrial Applications ; Aerospace Applications

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