A Modular and Scalable System Concept for Phased Array Antennas in Satellite Constellations

Phased array antennas play an increasing role in everyday life. They are a key technology to increase the network capabilities of 5G and 6G and are becoming a crucial component of satellite communication. In space, they are deployed in different orbits for various use cases which results in a wide performance range and requires a variety of antenna designs. Hence, a modular and scalable approach for a phased array antenna is presented to tackle the problem of designing various antennas to serve different orbits and missions. The Ethernet Antenna is a phased array antenna with 64 elements which is a modular building block for larger arrays. The necessary performance per use case is met by using an appropriate number of building blocks and by selecting the proper modules which requires only limited effort for redesign. This paper demonstrates that this approach results in an antenna design that meets the requirements of various orbits and use cases while coping with different satellite platforms.