Recent advances on space multibeam antennas based on a single aperture

The objective of this work is to provide an overview on recent ESA developments on multibeam satellite antennas generating a multiple spot beams coverage with a single aperture. In particular, solutions based on a single oversized reflector, direct radiating arrays, active discrete lenses, and confocal reflectors will be discussed. They represent interesting solutions with respect to the architecture based on three or four reflectors which is still considered today the reference solution. ESA is supporting since several years activities in this challenging domain.