Antenna Array Sidelobe Gain Reduction via Element Power Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Antenna arrays in satellite communications face challenges with adjacent satellite interference (ASI) due to high off-boresight radiation power, exceeding regulatory thresholds, which causes signal interference with nearby satellites.
Innovation Solution
A method and electronic device that determine the radiation pattern of an antenna array and identify specific antenna elements to power off, distorting the pattern to reduce power levels towards adjacent satellites, using techniques such as aperture distortion and Taylor weighting to form shapes like parallelograms, octagons, or pentagons, thereby reducing sidelobe gain relative to the main lobe.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If antenna arrays use high gain configurations, then communication efficiency with primary satellite is improved, but adjacent satellite interference increases
Solution Approach 1:
The antenna array is segmented into multiple independently controllable antenna elements. By selectively powering off specific elements, the radiation pattern can be modified to reduce sidelobe levels in directions of adjacent satellites while maintaining main lobe gain toward the primary satellite, thus resolving the contradiction between communication efficiency and interference generation.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the antenna array aperture are assigned different operational states (active or inactive). This local differentiation allows the main beam to remain focused on the primary satellite for high communication efficiency, while sidelobes pointing toward adjacent satellites are suppressed by deactivating specific local elements, thereby reducing interference.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If antenna array aperture is distorted to reduce sidelobe power, then adjacent satellite interference is reduced, but main lobe gain decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of distorting the entire antenna aperture which would uniformly reduce gain, only specific portions of the aperture are deactivated—specifically those elements contributing to sidelobes in the direction of adjacent satellites. This partial action selectively reduces interference while preserving the main lobe structure and its gain characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The operational state of individual antenna elements is changed from active to inactive, thereby dynamically modifying the radiation pattern parameters. This parameter change allows suppression of sidelobe power levels toward adjacent satellites while maintaining adequate main lobe gain for primary satellite communication.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods of mitigating signal interference in communications involving an antenna array can include determining a radiation pattern of the antenna array in communication with a first communication device. The method can include determining that a power level or gain of the antenna array in a direction pointing to a second communication device exceeds a predefined threshold value, using the radiation pattern of the antenna array and a position of the second communication device. The method can include identifying one or more antenna elements among a plurality of antenna elements of the antenna array to be powered off or applying non-uniform weighting to the antenna elements to distort the radiation pattern of the antenna array in a way to reduce the power level or gain of the antenna array in the direction pointing to the second communication device.