Reconfigurable antenna system for satellite communications

This paper presents a novel antenna system that employs a "non- focused reflector" (NFR) to reconfigure the beams of communications payloads of HIEO (highly inclined elliptical orbit) and GEO (geo-stationary) satellites. The key advantages of the NFR are that it minimizes the number of feed array elements for a given coverage, has better scan performance, and has reduced complexity. Design examples for both HlEO and GEO satellites are shown indicating that the beams are fully reconfigurable on-orbit using the NFR with a small active array feed.