Technologies for Reconfigurable antennas Used in Satellite and Terrastrial inks (TRUST)

用于公共安全和国防应用的电信系统需要以各种协议和频率运行。这是通过使用软件定义的无线电实现的。目前，还没有可重新配置的天线，允许在广泛的频率范围内在频道之间快速切换，以便充分利用现有无线电设备的潜力。在卫星通信中，需要开发能够在轨道上调整其对地覆盖的可重新配置天线，以适应市场变化。目前用于重新对准天线波束的方法提供了有限的灵活性。 这项研究的总体目标是研究实现电子可重构天线的可行性，这些天线具有以下所需的特性：能够在实际发射功率水平下工作、波束控制和整形的灵活性、工作频率的回调能力、在不同温度条件下工作的能力和不到毫秒的重新配置时间。 为了实现这一点，我们将研究可调元件在恶劣条件(高功率和变温)下的特性，以确定它们的局限性。必须开发和验证缓解性能下降的方法。同时，将设计和实现展示该设计方法增强的健壮性的可重构天线原型。这些原型将允许评估拟议概念的性能和局限性。

Telecommunication systems used in public safety and defence applications need to operate with a variety of protocols and frequencies. This is realized by using software defined radio. Currently, reconfigurable antennas allowing fast switching between channels over a broad range of frequencies in order to exploit the full potential of existing radio equipment are not available. In satellite communications, there is a need to develop reconfigurable antennas capable to adapt their Earth coverage while in orbit in order to adapt to the market changes. Current methods used to realign the antenna beam offer limited flexibility. The general objective of the proposed research is to investigate the feasibility of implementing electronically reconfigurable antennas with the following desired characteristics: capability to operate under realistic transmit power levels, flexibility for beam steering and shaping, capability of retuning the frequency of operation, capability to operate under varying temperature conditions and reconfiguration time inferior to the millisecond. To accomplish this, we will investigate the characteristics of tunable components under severe conditions (high power and varying temperature) to determine their limitations. Approaches to mitigate the performance degradation will have to be developed and validated. Concurrently, reconfigurable antenna prototypes demonstrating the enhanced robustness of the design method will be designed and implemented. These prototypes will allow assessment of performance and limitations of the proposed concepts.