ERA Technology has developed an innovative compact antenna for the next generation of Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) for Ku-band satellite communications.

The novel antenna design has recently completed a successful application trial with Hispasat, one of the biggest satellite operators in the world. The trials were undertaken in Madrid during February 2007, using the Hispasat 1D satellite. The test results were excellent, with achieved uplink and downlink data rates of over 800kbps.

Javier Vazquez, Technical Executive within ERA’s Antenna Systems business, who organized the trials explained: “We are delighted with the test results and would like to thank Hispasat for giving ERA the opportunity to show-case the flat plate array. Customers were very impressed, as they used the antenna to make satellite calls to different destinations world-wide and were quickly able to browse the internet. The antenna fits very well with high performance applications, requiring a discrete satellite communications system, which fits into a small suitcase and is both quick and easy to deploy.”

ERA’s new array antenna combines low-loss waveguide radiators with low-profile, low-loss stripline beamformers to create a highly efficient and versatile technology suitable for a wide range of scenarios. The array is ideally suited to portable applications such as satellite terminals for broadband internet access and man-portable military terminals where a compact lightweight antenna is a key requirement. The design can easily be modified for
Ka-band applications.