Analysis and Design on Aperture Antenna Systems with Large Electrical Size Using Multilevel Fast Multipole Method

Abstract

A full-wave procedure for designing electrically large optimized classical aperture antenna systems is analyzed using the multilevel fast mulitpole method (MLFMA). The useful design equations for optimized offset dual reflector antennas with circular apertures are also presented to allow the size and spacing of the main and subreflectors of the antenna system, along with the feed horn subintended angle, to be used as input variables of the design procedure. The radiation of feed horn is first analyzed and compared with theoretical and available measurement results. The conventional reflector antennas are simulated and analyzed for aperture blockage of the feed. Finally, the offset dual reflector antennas with circular aperture are designed and validated numerically by showing that low cross polarization and spillover losses obtained. All the simulations are made by using the MLFMA which is implemented based on the method of moments (MoM) with RWG triangular patch basis function to model any shape of reflector surfaces.