Modelling steerable beams of satellite constellations for radio astronomy impact studies

Journal article, 2026

Modelling is essential for studies that quantify the impact from satellite downlinks on radio astronomy sites. To estimate this impact it is necessary to know not only the position and velocity of satellites but also their behaviour in the radio spectrum domain. As many large satellite constellations are using steerable beam antennas, deterministically predicting the transmitted power towards a defined direction (in this case where a radio telescope points) becomes an almost impossible task and therefore another approach has to be used. This work presents a method to simulate and estimate the percentiles of the radiation pattern of satellites with steerable beam patterns based on simulations and a comparison with measurements of Starlink satellites using the Onsala Twin Telescopes in Sweden.