Research Article

Potential Benefits of Dynamic Beam Synthesis to Mobile Satellite Communication, Using the Inmarsat 4 Antenna Architecture as a Test Example

Table 1


ParameterValue

Transmit  MHz
Receive  MHZ
PolarisationRHCP
Number of antennasSingle Tx/Rx array fed reflector
Antenna typeOffset-fed paraboloidal reflector
Diameter9 metres
F/D0.53
Feed120 helical elements, array diameter = 2.2 metres
Feed positionIn front of focal plane
BeamformerDigital Signal Processor, (DSP) with 15 multiport amplifier ( ) blocks on transmit
Beam alignmentBeams aligned with fixed geographic cells
Beam reconfigurationBeams reconfigured throughout the day to compensate for orbit inclination
Frequency reuseSpatial diversity provides frequency reuse between beams

MPA blocks are used to distribute power more uniformly over the transmit amplifiers and hence increase their efficiency.