Realization of S-Band Multi Beam Phased Array Telemetry

Simultaneous Multi Beam Phased Array Receive only antenna is a next generation ground telemetry technology which is a necessary solution for providing crucial telemetry data in multi target scenario and multi payload scenario in contrast to deploying multiple single beam independent conventional telemetry station. This paper presents design and development of S-Band multi beam shared aperture <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\boldsymbol{8 \times 8}$</tex> Phased Array Auto-track Telemetry (PATM) Antenna. State of art Shared Aperture concept is utilized for simultaneous formation of multiple beams. The proposed antenna array design has been simulated and optimized using HFSS(High Frequency Structure Simulator) 3D-EM model for best return loss over the specified S band. The PATM antenna has been realized using planar microstrip patch square aperture antenna arrays with range capability 150 km for 5 watt transmitting antenna power, where 3dB beam width is 14° and gain is 21 dBi. The beams can be steered electronically over <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\pm \boldsymbol{60}^{\circ}$</tex> scan volume. The antenna array, beam-forming networks, mono-pulse comparator, S band to 70 MHz down converter, three channel mono-pulse tracking receiver and tracking algorithm are designed and developed indigenously. In this paper, a prototype array with maximum four beams formation and simultaneous tracking of multiple targets has been demonstrated as a proof of concept.