Ground Receiving System and Antenna Pattern Reconstruction Method for SPS Demonstration Satellite

Abstract

A demonstration experiment using a small satellite in a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) has been proposed to realize the space Solar Power Satellite (SPS). In this paper, we will report on the current status of two types of field experiments as part of this demonstration satellite experiment. Our first objective is to measure the characteristics of the transmitting Active Phased Array Antenna(APAA) of the SPS demonstration satellite in low earth orbit. This is divided into satellite antenna pattern measurement and tracking characteristic measurement. The two-dimensional antenna pattern is measured by the movement of the satellite by arranging multiple receiving stations in a straight line on the ground. Additionally, the tracking characteristics are measured by deploying the receiving station two-dimensionally on the ground. These patterns have distortions as a result of measurement errors. For this reason, we reconstruct the antenna pattern using the two-dimensional least-squares function and show that appropriate reconstruction is possible by selecting the optimum function. In addition, as a proposal for experiments on power transmission from satellites, we examined the effectiveness of "satellite rectenna radios" that operate unpowered radios using power from satellites.