Some highlights in reflector antenna development

The paper reviews the evolution of reflector antennas from the days of Hertz, through the period from 1900 to World War II, the World War II years, the postwar rise of radio astronomy, the twenty years from 1945 to 1965 and the past decade. In the 1940s and 1950s, the design principles and requirements for prime focus fed systems were well established, while Cassegrain or secondary focus systems and horn reflectors came into prominence in the early 1960s with the advent of satellite tracking and communication networks. The desire to maximize the gain led to the development of sophisticated techniques for properly shaping the illumination over the reflector aperture in order to maximize efficiency and minimize spillover. Some recent developments in line source feeds make the spherical reflector attractive for scanning applications and the conical reflector for deployable spaceborne antennas.