A Sub-Terahertz Retrodirective Antenna Array for Satellite Tracking
Zhongbo Zhu1,2, Weidong Hu2, Xianqi Lin3, Senior Member, IEEE, Xiaojun Li1
1
National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Space Microwave, CAST Xi’an, China
2
School of Information and Electronic Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China
3
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
Abstract—A sub-terahertz retrodirective antenna array is
proposed. This array receives 40 GHz navigation signal and
accurately retransmits 120 GHz beam in the direction of arrival
wave. Simulation results indicate that proposed array with
stacked sandwich structure has realized the tracking of the arrival
wave. The scanning radiation pattern shows array gain is 23.87
dB at 19.9° when incident angle is 20° with a relative error of only
0.5%, which means there is a lateral error of only 8.7 meters at a
transmission distance of 5 kilometers.
I. INTRODUCTION
R ETRODIRECTIVE antenna array has received much
attention for satellite communication application in recent
years on account of its adaptive tracking properties [1].
Retrodirective antenna array can automatically retransmit a
beam of echoes in the direction of arrival waves with no need
for any prior knowledge of source location [2-3] or extra
complex digital signal processing units. However, there have
been few papers focusing on sub-terahertz retrodirective
tracking application.
In this paper, a high accuracy-tracking, high gain
retrodirective antenna array with a stacked sandwich structure
is presented. This array is suitable for the application of
high-speed satellite communication system as the adaptive
tracking system.
The present paper innovatively presents a stacked sandwich
structure to integrate eight channels of receiving and
transmitting links into one whole cavity. This combination of
stacked sandwich increases channel consistencies and
miniaturizes the size of retrodirective antenna array. The
structure is easy to fabricate and can be easily integrated with
antenna, mixers, multipliers and amplifiers.
II. DESIGN AND THEORY
This paper presents a block diagram for receiving and
sending links in single channel, as shown in Fig. 1. The signal
received from ANT1 will be transmitted to MIX1, where the
LO1 is a higher local oscillator. In this condition, the mixer
named MIX1 works as a conjugate mixer, which will make the
IF signal travelling on line b has a phase conjugated to its
original phase.
Suppose the ANT1 received signal f r = cos(ω t + ϕ0 ) and
the LO1 output signal f l = cos ((ω + Δω )t ) . The IF signal
output from MIX1 is:
f IF = f r * f l = 0.5* cos ((2ω + Δω )t + ϕ0 ) + 0.5* cos (Δωt − ϕ0 )
where signal cos ((2ω + Δω )t + ϕ 0 ) with frequency 2 ω will be
ignored because of the LPF in circuit, and signal
0.5* cos (Δωt − ϕ0 ) with frequency Δω will pass through the
LPF which is the exact signal f IF . From f IF equation, we can
see that the signal phase is −ϕ 0 conjugated to the phase value
of f r . As the amplifier contributed time delay is a constant
value, the f IF phase can be considered as its origin phase −ϕ 0 ,
but the amplitude of f IF will be G1* cos (Δωt − ϕ0 ) ( Suppose
the amplifier between line c and d has a gain of 2G1) . If LO2
output signal is f l 2 = G1* cos (ωt ) , the RF signal output from
MIX2 transmitting on line e will be
f r 2 = 0.5* G1* (cos ((ω + Δω )t − ϕ0 ) + cos((ω − Δω )t + ϕ0 ))
Assuming the amplifier between line e and f has a gain of 2/G1
and the tripler has a zero phase delay, the signal radiated from
ANT2 will be f t = cos (3* (ω + Δω )t − 3*ϕ0 ) .
The distance between elements of the retrodirective antenna
array is the same in case of 40GHz and 120GHz, but the phase
of signal radiated from ANT2 is 3 times of the signal received
ANT1
MIX1
AMP
a b c d
LPF
x
LO1 LO2
ANT2 y
h g ×3 f
AMP
e
HPF MIX2
Fig. 1. Block diagram of receiving and transmitting links in single channel.
from ANT1 with a conjugated relationship, the direction of the
two signal will be exactly reversed.
Under this logic, if all channels of the antenna array play in
the same role, a pilot signal with 40GHz shots to it, an 120GHz
reverse signal with information modulated on will be
transmitted to the pilot end point, the sub-terahertz
retrodirective antenna array can be used to setup a satellite
communication link with the function of satellite tracking.
In order to achieve channels integration, this paper proposes
a stacked sandwich structure. Fig. 2 shows the details of the
stacked sandwich structure. As one of the eight-channel links,
all circuits are fabricated on the substrate Rogers RT/duroid
5880 (εr=2.2, tan δ=0.0009, thickness=0.508 mm) as the middle
layer of the sandwich, while the upper and lower metal cavities
are separately processed and assembled with the substrate.
As shown in Fig.2, the pilot signal receive antenna at low
frequency side of the retrodirective antenna array was designed
in wide-side slotted antenna. A microstrip-SIW(substrate
integrated waveguide)-antipodal finline transition structure was
adopted. After that was downconverter and low pass filter,
followed by an amplifier. The DC and local oscillator was
designed to the very side of the array, which give an
convenience of power supply and source feeding.
In order to downsize the antenna array, the high frequency
link circuit was designed along with low frequency chain. It is
the mirror of low frequency signal chain, that the high
frequency chain composition by sequence upconverter,
amplifier, tripler, micristrip-SIW()-RW(rectangular
waveguide) transition, high pass filter and H-plane horn
Fig. 2. The sketch of proposed stacked sandwich structure and stacked
sandwich in single channel in details.
antenna.
The wide-side slotted rectangular waveguide antenna with
antipodal finline has properties of low sidelobe level and good
cross-polarization characteristic [4], which is suitable to be
element type of the receiving antenna array. The antenna gain is
mainly related to the taper length Lg of finline, and has little
correlation with the aperture dimension Wa. The port matching
of the antenna is mainly adjusted by changing the width W of
overlap part of antipodal finline, as shown in Fig.3(b).
(a) (b)
Fig. 3. The sketch of proposed stacked sandwich structure and stacked
sandwich in single channel in details.
III. SIMULATION RESULTS
In the simulation of channels, receiving antenna array
receives incident plane wave excitation therefore receiving
phase is formed on each element of array and is recorded.
Because of the phase conjugation processing of the
downconverter, the phase gradient of each channel should be
reversed. After the signal passing through the tripler, the phase
of each channel is tripled, which means that the phase
difference between the channels is also tripled. Other devices in
the channel only add phase shifts to the signal, but the
additional phase shifts for all channels are equal. The beam
direction of the transmitting antenna array depends on the phase
difference between the elements, independent of the value of
Fig. 4. Scanning radiation pattern of retrodirective array versus different
incident angles.
the phase, so the additional phase shifts of other devices do not
affect the beam pointing. Fig. 4 shows the scanning radiation
pattern of retrodirective array versus different incident angles.
It can be seen that the echo beam pointing is very close to that
of arrival wave. When the incident angle is 20°, the
retrodirective array automatically forms a beam pointing at
19.9° with a relative error of only 0.5%, which means there is a
lateral error of only 8.7 meters at a transmission distance of 5
kilometers. Array scanning gain are 23.10 dB, 21.48 dB, 22.68
dB, 23.70 dB, 23.87 dB at the angle of 0.0°, 4.6°, 10.2°, 15.0°,
19.9°, respectively.
IV. SUMMARY
The retrodirective array for THz tracking has been designed
and verified in simulations in this paper. Based on the
retrodirective array theory, this array is developed and it
receives 40 GHz navigation signal and retransmits 120 GHz
beam in the direction of arrival wave. Simulation results
indicate that proposed array with stacked sandwich structure
can realize the tracking of the arrival wave. The scanning
radiation pattern shows array gain is 23.87 dB at 19.9° when
incident angle is 20° with a relative error of only 0.5%, which
means there is a lateral error of only 8.7 meters at a
transmission distance of 5 kilometers. The findings are
significant for tracking of THz satellite communication systems,
which laid the foundation for the following works. In the future,
this array will be combined with communication links, not only
to achieve tracking, but also to achieve data transmission and
high-speed communication functions.
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