Satcom flat-panel antennas: technology landscape

This report provides a framework for the satellite communication (satcom) flat-panel antenna (FPA) technology landscape.

FPAs are a crucial enabler of high-growth satcom use cases; low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellations and high-speed mobility services need low-profile arrays with dynamic beam steering to meet customers’ needs. Within the FPA category, there are several distinct technology types that vendors are developing, which vary in their cost, performance and suitability for specific use cases.

In this report, we analyse the five most prominent technologies that are either already in use, or are being developed, for satcom FPAs. We define and compare these technologies to identify the performance and design trade-offs.

We consider five attributes to frame our comparisons. For each attribute, we include benchmark capabilities that satcom equipment vendors and service providers can use as a base for comparing solutions and identifying optimal target parameters for their needs.

Questions answered in this report

• What are the main technologies used for satcom FPAs, and how can these be categorised?
• Which areas should be considered when comparing FPA technologies?
• How do FPA technologies compare with each other, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of each?
• Which metrics can be used to make effective comparisons between satcom FPA technologies, even across different platform sizes or frequencies?
• What are the benchmarks for low/moderate/high performance for each attribute?