Integrated Design and Analysis of Large Reflector-Antenna Systems

For efficient integrated design and analysis of antenna systems consisting of waveguide harness, feed horns, and electrically large reflectors, a hybrid software has been developed. Herein, a higher-order Methods of Moments formulation using the Multi-Level Fast Multipole Method and a set of dedicated algorithms for solving electromagnetic problems inside waveguide geometries are combined with Physical Optics and a set of optimization algorithms. This allows for direct optimization of the complete antenna systems based on the far-field performance.An example illustrating the superior antenna designs achievable with this approach compared to traditional approaches, in which the components of the antenna system are optimized individually and then combined into a complete system, is presented.