Differentially-Fed Dual-Polarized and Shaped Beam Antennas for Satellite Communications

Satellite communication and navigation have greatly changed the world. In recent decade, small satellite has become an important trend for satellite technology, and the space on small satellites is even more precious. Therefore, highly integrated payloads, such as miniaturized antennas, are in great demand for small satellites. Besides, for some special applications, satellite is also required to provide service for a certain area on the earth, which necessitates the beamwidth under a specified gain or even the earth-coverage-beam antenna. The conventional reflector and phased array designs are bulky and costly, making them unsuitable for small satellites. Therefore, in this paper, four spaceborne antennas aims to realize specific beamwidth and miniaturization are presented. The designs including the differentially-fed dual polarized magnetic dipole antenna and the circularly polarized (CP) earth-coverage-beam antenna. The compact structure and good performance make the antennas appropriate for satellite communications.