Contoured beam phased array antennas

The performance of phased array antenna systems optimized to provide several frequency reuses with high sidelobe and cross polarization isolation for INTELSAT satellites was analyzed. The data were calculated by multiplying the array factor of the configuration with an array element pattern. Results suggest that the required sidelobe isolation is difficult to meet. One way to overcome these difficulties is to increase the radiating aperture and/or the number of elements, but due to limitations in spacecraft technology, this is not practicable. The use of subarray techniques to provide a better tailored element pattern may be feasible.