In Situ Antenna Pointing Angle Calibration for Q-Band Satellite Ground Station | IEEE Journals & Magazine | IEEE Xplore

In Situ Antenna Pointing Angle Calibration for Q-Band Satellite Ground Station


Abstract:

Exploration of millimeter-wave (mmWave) bands has gained a significant interest in satellite communications. mmWave satellite communication link quality is highly sensiti...Show More

Abstract:

Exploration of millimeter-wave (mmWave) bands has gained a significant interest in satellite communications. mmWave satellite communication link quality is highly sensitive to the pointing angle of the antenna in the ground station, due to its high directivity. For the multiantenna ground station design, it is also of importance to know pointing angles and angle difference of all antenna elements. However, it is challenging in the real-world setup. In this letter, we propose a novel calibration technique to estimate the electrical antenna pointing angle of the in situ ground station based on the received signal power pattern on the ground station, which is time-variant according to the satellite in-orbital motion. The proposed algorithm is numerically simulated and experimentally validated, demonstrating its effectiveness for the in situ antenna pointing angle calibration.
Published in: IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters ( Volume: 19, Issue: 7, July 2020)
Page(s): 1246 - 1250
Date of Publication: 25 May 2020

ISSN Information:

Funding Agency:


I. Introduction

The ever-growing need for data-rate in satellite communications is promoting the exploitation of millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies, thanks to the large available bandwidth [1], [2]. However, mmWave systems are severely affected by different atmospheric impairments, especially under unfavorable weather conditions. Besides the attenuation due to atmosphere, the satellite radio signal might also suffer from scattering by rain drops, hails, snowflakes, etc, since the wavelength at the mmWave band becomes comparable to the dimension of those objects in the atmosphere. Knowing behavior of propagation channel in the earth–space link is crucial for the system design and development, e.g., to determine the link margin, availability, and quality of service, etc. Therefore, extensive propagation experiments have been reported to understand the channel characteristics [1]–[5].

References

References is not available for this document.