Shaped reflectors for multiple beam applications

ERA Technology has performed a number of studies to examine the application of shaped reflector antennas to satellite multicoverage scenarios. The design objectives were to derive two or more contoured beams from a single or dual shaped offset reflectors using either a single feed per beam or a small array of feeds per beam as appropriate. The synthesis of such an antenna involves simultaneous optimisation of the reflector shape and the excitations of the feed array elements associated with each beam. In this context the geometrical optics based reflectors synthesis techniques are inappropriate and the design must be based on the more elaborate diffraction optimisation technique.