Quad-Band Petal Reflector Antenna for Ground Communications

Future protected communications require soldiers on the ground to carry several antennas to integrate with their man-packs to provide secure and reliable communications at several frequency bands. This paper describes a novel “petal-reflector” that combines four antennas into one using a quad-band antenna design. A dual-reflector antenna using axially displaced ellipsoid (ADE) sub-reflector fed with a wideband quad-ridged horn provided Ku-band transmit, Ku-band receive, K-band receive and Ka-band transmit frequencies using a high performance quadraplexer. The main reflector is made of six identical petals that can be quickly assembled and disassembled in the battle field. The antenna is assembled on a light-weight 2-axis gimbal to provide beam scanning over +/− 900 in elevation and 3600 in azimuth. The antenna / gimbal combination is then mounted on a tripod structure for field operations and uses commercial off the shelf (COTS) components and 3-D manufactured parts to minimize cost and weight. Details on the antenna design, analyses, hardware, integration and test results are presented.