High-throughput SatCom-on-the-move antennas: Technical overview and state-of-the-art

With the rapid development of satellite communications, satellite antennas attract growing interest, especially the high-throughput SatCom-on-the-move antenna for providing high-speed connectivity in a mobile environment. While conventional antennas, such as parabolic dishes and planar waveguide arrays, enjoy a growing market, new kinds of antennas keep on emerging to meet diversified requirements in various satellite communication scenarios. This paper first introduces the design requirements, categories, and evolutions of SatCom-on-the-move antennas, and then discussed representative designs of mechanical scanning antennas and electronic scanning antennas, including their structures, principles, characteristics, and limitations in practical applications. Given the new requirements of satellite communications, this paper also highlighted some of the latest progress in this field, including the Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC)-based phased array antenna, the metasurface-based phased array antenna, and their hybrid versions. Finally, some critical challenges facing future antennas are discussed. It is believed that it's necessary to put concerted efforts from antenna, microwave, and material communities, etc., to advance SatCom-on-the-move antennas for the upcoming era of satellite communication.