Wide-angle scanning reflector configuration for focal plane arrays

Abstract

A mathematical analysis of reflector shaping for wide-angle scanning is presented. Parabolic, hyperbolic and spherical reflectors are defined based on geometrical optics method in order to have the smallest deviation of the focused beam (Fig. 1) during wide-angle scanning. It is shown that it is possible to expand the illuminated region of the array by a factor 3 for parabolic reflectors with axial displacement based on an estimated 80 % aperture efficiency at 30 GHz, D/λ=80. Moreover, it is demonstrated that spherical reflector have the smallest deviation from the axis of revolution during wide-angle scanning.