MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Corporation|MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Corporation

Purpose

The satellite market has recently shifted towards Low Earth Orbit constellations. These missions require feeder link antennas that offer a wide scan angle and are typically supported by reflector antennas. A shift towards phased array for feeder links is starting to emerge as this technology presents great advantages in terms of number of beams, speed of reconfigurability and interference mitigation capacities. The purpose of this project is to develop a feeder link Ka-Band phased array antenna with interference mitigation capabilities. This requires developing antenna architecture and concepts that integrate on-orbit calibration and develop interference mitigation algorithms. The expected outcome will be an antenna breadboard model to support the testing of calibration and interference mitigations algorithms. LEO constellations supported by these novel feed link antennas will ultimately provide broadband access to remote areas where it is not economically viable to develop traditional broadband services, helping to close the digital divide.