Development of a compact antenna for global earth coverage

This paper is on the development, under an ESA contract, of a new concept of antenna for global earth coverage in the C-band. The main improvements of this antenna with respect to the several types of horns used so far have to do with the dimension and mass which have been notably reduced. The structure known as Von Trentini antenna was selected as the most capable to meet this main objective, being modelled, analyzed and optimized, and the theoretical results were validated with the experimental measurements from several manufactured breadboards, including a final prototype meeting specifications.