...at the Satellite 2012 trade show on March 12-14 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington DC, including the world’s smallest Ku-band low noise amplifier, block downconverter and feed antenna (LNBF). At 1.56 square inches and only 0.25 inches in depth, four of these array feeds, each with an integrated LNB, can fit within the same area as the average business card. Due to Linear Signal’s proprietary, ultra high efficiency antenna designs, which feature array elements with 95 percent radiation efficiency, and the fact that the LNB is built directly onto the back of the antenna PCB, eliminating connector losses, these Ku-band antennas can outperform the average horn-based SATCOM feeds. The company’s bi-directional Ku band LNBF is not much larger, at only 2.64 square inches, and connects to a BUC, or block upconverter, using a standard cable connection. The Linear Signal antenna design also produces a native 50 dB of transmit/receive isolation without additional filtering.
In addition to the Ku band array feeds introduced here, the company is working on similar size, weight and cost reductions in L-, S-, C-, X- and Ka-bands for a wide range of SATCOM applications from side-of-the-house satellite television to sophisticated military man-pack solutions. Similar array feeds can also be populated with the company’s proprietary low cost beamforming chips to add active beamsteering to an LNB or transceiver for dynamic repeaking and repointing functions. Linear Signal’s Ku band passive array single-board LNBF can be seen in Booth 394.