THE NEW HARRIS ANTENNA TEST FACILITY FOR THE PIM MEASUREMENT OF VERY LARGE ANTENNAS AND SATELLITES

摘要

Large deployable reflectors were developed by Harris to support the implementation of regional mobile satellite communication systems. High antenna gain as well as very high transmitted power are required to enable communications with hand-held telephones from geostationary orbit The resulting high repeater gain and the relative proximity of the frequency bands for mobile satellite communications lead to very stringent PIM requirements for the large deployable antennas. Harris has developed deployable reflectors which meet the challenging mechanical and PIM requirements. The PIM verification of such antennas is rather complex due to the significant scattering and interaction between the bus and the very large antennas. This paper presents the large state-of-the-art antenna test facility designed and built by Harris to allow reliable, accurate and straightforward PIM measurements of antennas up to 30 m in diameter. The test facility can also accommodate a full scale mock-up of the satellite for the antenna level PIM verification or the satellite itself for an overall system level PIM performance evaluation.