ANTENNA USER TERMINAL WITH WAIM METAMATERIAL RADOME
Wed, 21 Nov 2018 09:34:15 GMT
The European Space Agency (ESA) hereby invites tenders for Antenna user terminal with Wide Angle Impedance Matching (WAIM) metamaterial radome.
Conventional flat phased array antennas exhibit limitations when steering a pencil beam in a large field of view mainly because the antenna projected area changes in relation to the scanning angle and because of the active impedance variations. The most immediate solution to guarantee a large field of view with an electronically scanning antenna is provided by conformal antennas and arrays augmented by domes (lenses with variable thickness or materials (Luneberg-like). These antenna architectures tend to provide equalised performance with respect to the steering angle but are bulky and heavy. In addition, the portion of the antenna generating a generic beam changes as a function of the steering angle implying the necessity of an enlarged overall antenna aperture and the need of additional switches in order to activate only a limited portion of the antenna [RD-1].
Recent investigations have shown that a WAIM, based on a doubly uniaxial (magnetic and electric) anisotropic layer, can be optimized for high performance on a large angular field of view. Metamaterials, composed by artificial structures with subwavelength unit cells, can be fabricated to achieve gradually refractive indices. In addition, by designing the refractive indices properly, a gradient-index planar slab able to transform spherical waves into plane waves may be derived. Using innovative lenses the performance of active phased array antennas over a large field of view can be significantly improved. In addition, the integration of the WAIM in the radome may reduce the overall antenna thickness with moderate impact on cost. The curvature and thickness of the radome can be tuned in order to maximise the performance, particularly at larger scanning angles. The amplitude and phase law applied to the phased array elements can also be optimized for every angular direction to best account for parasitic effects and active impedance variations. Possible compensation of crosspolarization by amplitude and phase tuning can be implemented as well.
The objective of the activity is to analyse, design, manufacture and test a user terminal antenna including a radome with Wide Angle Impedance Matching (WAIM). Significant improvements with respect to the available phased array solutions are expected. The antenna concept shall be verified through the design, manufacture and test of a completely representative breadboard.
| Price Range: | 200-500 KEURO |
| Closing Date: | 14/01/2019 |
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