Wide-Angle Quasi-Optical Beamformer for LEO Applications

In this article, the design of a low profile double mirror quasi-optical beamformer is presented for low Earth orbit Satcom megaconstellations. The beamformer consists of stacked parallel plate waveguides operating with the principal transverse electromagnetic mode. Vertical mirrors shape in amplitude and phase the guided mode for feeding a linear array located at one edge of the beamformer. A physical optics tool is used to optimize the shape and location of the mirrors for wide scanning. The final design is based on an integrated solution for high beam crossover in PCB technologies. Full-wave simulations validate the system based on a dual-mirror system radiating 23 beams in a field of view of $\pm 55^{\circ}$ with increased beam crossover in the Ka-band (17.3 GHz - 20.2 GHz).