Evaluation of focal fields and radiation characteristics of a dual-offset reflector antenna

A receive-mode analysis of a dual-offset reflector antenna consisting of an offset paraboloid and an offset hyperboloid is presented. In this analysis the field scattered from the offset paraboloid is determined using a g.t.d. formulation involving two edge points and a reflection point, if one exists. A method is described for deciding whether there is a reflection point from the gradient of the path length at the edge points. The focal-region fields and the radiation characteristics are computed by numerical integration of the physical optics current on the offset hyperboloid. An experimental antenna operating at 35 GHz is described Results of measurements of radiation patterns and of the power coupled into a circular waveguide array feed are compared with theory. In each cae reasonable agreement is achieved for copolarised directed components. However, the experimental antenna produced higher crosspolarisation than expected.