High Bandwidth Satellite Antenna System
Our Breakthrough
Large aperture expandable antennas enabling over Ten times the bandwidth of traditional antennas. The technology permits antennas to be stowed during launch in a compact volume and deploy after launch, saving mass, volume and supporting structures. Post deployment, the antenna has an innovative "smart" feed system enabling the antenna to compensate for any reflector shape imperfections and optimize performance.
Expandable large aperture antenna
The product includes an expandable large aperture antenna:
Utilizing the characteristics of advanced materials such as shape memory polymers and others. The ratio of contracted volume to material volume is over 1:4.
The materials used are thin films and therefore a folded volume is under 1/4 of the material volume leaving a very compact volume needed (as can be seen in the figure the 1 meter Antenna fits into a third of the box volume).
The materials have a near zero thermal expansion, allowing for a low thermal distorted structure suitable for the space harsh environment.
The Antenna is similar to the picture that relied on an inflatable technology, the current expandable technology does not need any gas or rigidization in space.
The FlexoSub©-Error correcting and optimizing sub reflector: Patent Pending Technology
This is a flexible Sub-reflector mounted on a rigid base with several actuators controlling the height of the points on the surface.
The surface of the main reflector can therefore be optimized and "smoothed" using shape (phase) changes in the sub reflector, this ability has already been proved in our RF Anionic chamber testing. This is one of the most advanced technologies around, and cannot only lead to Antenna correction, but also shaping in space after a change of customer or business focal point leading to a change of the coverage on the ground.