The high quality services to be provided in new generation mobile satellite services at Ku-band require a bi-directional high data rate satellite link to be maintained at all time. In addition to low fabrication cost and high EIRP and G/T performance, a flat profile is mandatory to preserve the vehicle aerodynamics. RF Microtech (Booth 716) has developed an innovative solution that allows a dramatic cost reduction based on a switched beam architecture for electronic beam steering in elevation, still preserving very high RF performance with an outstanding flatness as low as 5 cm, to our knowledge the smallest achieved so far.
