High gain airborne antenna for satellite communications

The performance of an airborne phased-array antenna, which was developed and evaluated onboard a commercial aircraft using the Engineering Test Satellite V (ETS-V), is reported. The system requirements and the antenna configuration that satisfies them are described. The radiation pattern, gain and axial ratio, noise temperature and ratio of gain to noise temperature, and environmental characteristics are presented. The results obtained by the flight experiments demonstrate that the performance of the antenna is the same as that on the ground, so that the antenna is suitable for installation in an aircraft for satellite communications