PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
Reflector antennas are by far the most used antenna technology for telecommunications satellite antennas, ground station antennas, and high-gain user terminals. High-performance reflector antennas are typically designed using the well-established and validated antenna design tool, GRASP, which provides an accurate RF analysis of the isolated reflector antenna. Recently, GRASP was further enhanced with powerful analysis capabilities for assessing platform scattering and antenna interference. However, GRASP does not allow the reflector feed and other feed chain components to be analysed. As a consequence, the antenna designer must design the feed chain in a separate feed design tool, e.g., CHAMP, or a competing tool. Subsequently, the performance of the entire antenna system is evaluated by using GRASP again. This error-prone multi-tool design process is illustrated in the figure below.
The objective of the present activity is to develop a single software tool that allows an end-to-end RF design of advanced reflectors and feed chains, including simultaneous optimization of all parts.
Challenges
The key challenge in this project is the development of fast RF prediction models that allow reflectors and feed chains to be analysed simultaneously. The fast solution methods must provide very high accuracy to fulfil the requirements of the space industry.
System Architecture
The new add-on product will be fully integrated into the existing GRASP software and the modular approach ensures a pleasant user experience for customers with licenses for both GRASP and the new product. The new analysis capabilities are built into the GRASP back-end which also allows batch runs of large problems. In addition, a new dedicated part of the GRASP graphical user interface is available for easy definition of complex feed chains.
Plan
The project plan is divided into two parts. The electromagnetic models and the back-end software module are developed in the first part and an easy-to-use graphical user interface is developed in the second part. In both cases, the new software is integrated directly into the existing GRASP software. Validation using realistic use cases is performed before completion of the activity.
Current Status
The project has been completed.
SUMMARY
A new add-on product to the GRASP software has been developed. The add-on contains Feed Systems Modelling, Optimisation capabilities, and dedicated work spaces in the Graphical User Interface (GUI) for handling these new features. The added features are integrated seamlessly with the existing commercially available GRASP software.
The new software allows direct and simultaneous optimisation of reflector and feed systems. This avoids the error-prone data exchange between two separate software tools. Further, the direct optimisation approach implies that entire feed chains can be optimised in their final operational environment, i.e, in front of the reflector. This capability is expected to lead to improved performance of advanced telecommunication reflector antenna payloads.