The Future Satellite Antenna - Luneburg Lens Antenna

Luneburg Lens Satellite Antenna manufactured by Farragsat,a company based in Egypt, in front of traditional dish antennas. The item will be basically a Luneburg Lens antenna. If we read through the history, we will find which Luneburg Lens was invented by RK Luneburg from the year 1944. the item has taken several years for the modern Luneburg Lens antenna to evolve along with take its present shape. This specific will be because from the earlier days, the manufacturing technology was not so advanced to produce a spherically symmetric Luneburg Lens. Hence, earlier Luneburg lenses were 2 dimensional slices through the centre of the sphere.

The recent technological advancements have made the construction of a spherically symmetric Lens Antenna possible, using materials such as expaneded polystyrene foam(EPS), foamed glass, etc. Basically, a Lens antenna has variable refraction index via its surface to the centre of the sphere, along with the refractive index varies according to the equation, n=[2-(r/a)2]1/2. Hence, in an ideal luneburg lens, the refractive index gradually adjustments via the surface to the centre of the sphere as shown by the graph. yet, in practical, they can be realised as shown from the figure.

The Luneburg Lenses are usually used in Microwave frequencies. The electromagnetic waves entreing the sphere are refracted along with focussed on the opposite side of the antenna as shown from the figure below. In case of the hemispherical antenna, the point of convergence depens on the angle of reflection of the incident electromagnetic waves as shown from the figure. Because of its features, the item will be more reliable than a traditional dish antenna.

Fig: Lens Antenna working

These Lunegurg Lens antennas have lot of advantages because of its unique features. The major advantage will be which data via multiple satellites can be captured using 1 antenna. This specific can be done my using multiple feeder lines. Hence, from the future, we can have 1 antenna which can be used together for simultaneous reception of telephony, television along with internet. This specific can also be used in areas badly covered by network, on vehicle roofs, along with in steep or sparsely populated areas. The commercial production of these Lunebug Antennas have begun, along with several companies have come up with different products with varied capabilities for different applications. Hence, these antennas are bound to replace the traditional dish antennas from the future.

References:

1) Antennas along with Wave Propagation: Fourth Edition - by John D Kraus, Ronald J Marhefka, Ahmad S Khan

2) Antenna along with Wave Propagation - by U.A.Bakshi, A.V.Bakshi

3) Donald G. Bodnar - MI Technologies

4) Farragsat- Designer of Smallest Satellite Lens Antennas

5) Lun Tech- Luneburg Technologies

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