IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine - July 2020 - 48

Space Phased Array Antenna Developments: A Perspective on Structural Design
launch took place at Vandenberg U.S. Air Force base on
November 4, 1995 and it started its mission in April 1996.
It was a radar system designed to perform both commercial Earth observation and scientific experiments. The
HH-polarization C-band waveguide slotted array antennas
carried on the satellite were equipped with seven types of
beam modes and 25 types of imaging modes.
RADARSAT-2 was launched from the Baikonur
launchpad in Kazakhstan on December 14, 2007 [36]. It
adopted the SAR system jointly developed by the CSA
and MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, Ltd. The satellite carried a C-band microstrip array antenna with a total
number of 10 240 elements and 512 T/R modules. It utilized all the work modes of RADARSAT-1, but improved
the multipolarization imaging and 3-m resolution imaging.
Canada took advantage of space active phased array radars
to provide full-polarization, high-resolution spaceborne
SAR images, which were highly applicable to topographic
mapping, environmental monitoring, and observations of
glaciers and the oceans.

INDIA

JAPAN
JERS-1 satellite lifted off at the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on February 11, 1992 [37]. It mainly adopted
HH-polarization L-band microstrip array antennas, which
had a bandwidth of 15 MHz, gain of 33.5 dB, and resolution of both the direction and azimuth of 18 m.
The National Space Development Agency of Japan
(NASDA) began the conceptual research for the
Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) [38] and the
corresponding remote sensor manufacturing and testing in
1993. It was launched on January 24, 2006 and stopped
working on May 12, 2011. ALOS was equipped with an
L-band active phased array radar, which was mainly
designed to achieve all-weather land observation. At the
end of 2008, NASDA launched the ALOS-2 project on
May 24, 2014 by an H-IIA rocket. The Japanese Mitsubishi Electric Company was mainly in charge of the
ALOS-2 system, while the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency was responsible for the design of the antenna system. The ALOS-2 satellite was also equipped with an Lband active phased array radar, which had a scanning
angle of 8 -70 and a maximum resolution of 1 m.
On March 28, 2003, the first generation of intelligence-gathering active phased array radar satellite with a
resolution of 1 m, called IGS-1B [39], was developed by
the Mitsubishi Electric Company. The optical satellite
IGS-1A was launched by H-IIA rocket along with IGS1B. They fell into the Pacific Ocean about 1300 km northeast of New Zealand on July 26, 2012.
The broadband network interconnection technology test
and demonstration satellite WINDS [40] was launched on
February 23, 2008. WINDS had Ka-band active phased
48

array antennas with large capacity and high speed data transfer rates, which were able to form two independently controllable moving point beams. Each beam could jump into
eight regions, so the communication mode of time division
multiple access could be realized. The transmitting antenna
and the receiving antenna both contained 128 antenna elements. The type of radiating element on WINDS was the
pyramidal horn antenna. The arrangement took into account
the requirements for scanning over ground. In order to
ensure that the antenna beam grating lobes were out of the
earth, the triangular interval was employed and the element
spacing was 2.7 times the wavelengths. At the same time, in
order to obtain the maximum gain, the array elements
adopted the constant amplitude feed.
At present, Japan is actively developing the VII generation IGS system, which will be more powerful. In 2017,
the budget of various military and civilian space development activities was $11 billion, part of which has been
invested in developing spaceborne active phased array
antennas.

On April 26, 2012, India's RISAT-1 satellite was launched
by a PSLV rocket at Sriharikota Launch Center in the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh. 17 min later, it reached
its orbit [41]. The life expectancy of the satellite was five
years, and it was equipped with a C-band active phased
array antenna. The microstrip array antenna, with a weight
of 950 kg, had a total number of 288 T/R modules. Each
module had a peak power of 10 W. In addition, the satellite could not be affected by the weather due to the realization of all-day monitoring. RISAT is the first active phased
array radar imaging satellite of the India Space Research
Department. At present, India is spending much more on
the research of space active phased array antennas.

KOREA
The KOMPSAT-5 satellite [42], jointly developed by the
Korea Aerospace Research Institute and Korea Space
Agency, was launched in November 2011. The radar
imaging instrument, which was expected to operate for 5
years, was able to reach a ground resolution of 1 m. The
X-band multimode deployable active phased array radar
technology deployed on the satellite provided the images
for the monitoring and prevention of environmental disasters and the collection of ocean and land information.
With this technology, South Korea is able to monitor the
earth's surface all day. The system will provide information for scientific research, the military, and various industries. South Korea will also be one of global satellite
powers.

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

JULY 2020

IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine - July 2020

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