Low-cost, high efficiency, wideband circular polarized planar array antenna for LEO SATCOM application (LHPALEO)

Research Project, 2021 – 2023

Purpose and goal: The project intends to develop an innovative antenna with high efficiency and low manufacturing costs. The purpose is to enable the launch of a cost-effective satellite terminal for the new generation of Low Earth Orbit satellite constellations, in order to open up a global market for broadband access.
Today´s commercially available products have too high energy consumption and price to be applied on a large scale in the world´s less well-off areas. The project´s innovation thus has great potential to help reduce the world´s digital divide. Expected results and effects: High efficiency and low cost are expected to be realized thanks to low-loss technology (with gap waveguides, which in turn enables cost-effective production) in the antenna´s distribution network, as well as minimizing the number of active components (which is an additional cost driver). The innovative antenna design is expected to reduce the total cost x5, weight/volume x3-4, increase the bandwidth x3-4 and increase the efficiency 50% relative to existing products. An asymmetric solution, which uses a limited terrestrial return link, is expected to reduce the cost further x5. Approach and implementation: The project is divided into two phases. In the initial, only passive antennas will be analyzed. These require mechanical steering to follow the satellite path, but due to a lower complexity, the cost of the antenna can be drastically reduced. The final phase analyzes active, phase-controlled antennas. In both phases, both full-duplex and recieve-only solutions will be analyzed, justified by that the latter significantly reduces complexity and cost (with the disadvantage that the technology can only be used in areas where a minimum level of ground-based coverage exists).