Large Aperture Thin Film Antenna Development, Fabrication and Testing

SRS Technologies

Huntsville, AL
 

Inflatable thin film polyimide antennas

• Designed and fabricated a 0.3m off-axis inflatable thin film antenna and characterized it in the NASA GRC Far Field range at X-band. Performance was equivalent to a solid reflector.
  
• Designed and fabricated a 4x6m off-axis inflatable thin film antenna with a rigidized support torus. Characterized the antenna in the NASA GRC Near Field Range. Antenna showed typical performance at X-band. Phase plots of the aperture show macroscopic surface errors, which are more conspicuous at Ka-band and implicit with an inflatable lenticular geometry. Compensation methods are in development.
  
• Supported RF characterization of an inflatable thin film SATCOM antenna.
  
• Designed and fabricated an array of four 1-m inflatable thin film antennas and a test support structure. Tracked a LEO satellite and used the data to validate an Adaptive Beam Forming Algorithm for combining the signals from several apertures into one optimized signal.
  
• Designed and fabricated a 2.4m inflatable Cassegrain Antenna and characterized it in the NASA GRC Near Field Range.
  
• Currently fabricating 0.5m deployable rigidized thin film antenna test articles that will be characterized in the NASA GRC Compact Range.
  
• This technology is a spinoff of the inflatable solar concentrator.
  
  

• SRC achieved “Superior Supplier” status in the commercial satellite industry by applying their design and analysis expertise, with tooling, materials, and process technologies.
  
• SRS manufactures RF transmissive thin film antenna sunshield covers, and state-of-the-art multi-layer insulation (MLI) solutions for long duration satellite systems.
  
• Development of inflatable antenna materials and test methods is supporting the development and RF certification of SRS’s patented terrestrial inflatable SATCOM radome antenna system, a new product line for SRS.
  

• SRS has developed and demonstrated thin film antenna and materials technologies that are helping define NASA’s Space Based Large Deployable Antenna Systems technology roadmap. Key technologies include RF performance, Low CTE polymers, RF polymers, tooling, manufacturing processes, and deployment scenarios.
  
• Potential applications include Mars aerostationary relay satellites, deep-space relays, small-satellite deployable antennas, and lunar surface communications.
  

Return to NASA SBIR Success Listings 

Communications

Curator: SBIR Support                 5/23/07