# Starlink phased array antenna

vutran
It looks very cool.
I have been using phased-array for direction finding & beam-forming, but recently I have come up with an idea that I find difficult to understand.
Let's take the star-link phased array as an example, if we used a long-wave (MHz -- much lower than the one it is designed for), the phase offset among antenna elements would be very small (go to 0) in any direction. Therefore, the amplitude gain in any direction would be N (N: number of elements), and the power gain would be N^2 in any direction which would violate the energy conservation law. Could anyone help me figure out what is wrong here?
Thanks.

## Answers and Replies

Gold Member
violate the energy conservation law
Energy conservation applies over the whole sphere. The square of the amplitude gives the power radiated in a particular direction but remember that all the directions where the amplitude is one half, get only one quarter of the power. It can never all add up to greater than unity.
The power beam width is less than the amplitude beam width - is another way of looking at it.

vutran
Gold Member
Very closely spaced elements have large mutual coupling that spoils the gain. A way to look at it is that coupling makes many elements behave as one, so you have, effectively, a fraction of N elements.

vutran and berkeman
vutran
that all the directions where the amplitude is one half
In this case, I assumed the wavelength is much larger than the element spacing, so the radiation pattern is approximately a sphere, so the amplitude is the same in all directions, isn't it?

vutran
Very closely spaced elements have large mutual coupling that spoils the gain. A way to look at it is that coupling makes many elements behave as one, so you have, effectively, a fraction of N elements.
But how can I take this into account in analyses in general cases with a spacing of D? Is it correct to compute the pattern regardless of this mutual coupling effect, then normalize it so that ∫(power_pattern) = 1 (or transmission power)?

Gold Member
In this case, I assumed the wavelength is much larger than the element spacing, so the radiation pattern is approximately a sphere, so the amplitude is the same in all directions, isn't it?
No, there is no such thing as an omni-directional EM antenna. The Starlink antenna uses microstrip patches on a ground plane so the radiation pattern is confined to a hemisphere. Such elements have maximal amplitude at broadside and fall to zero along the array plane, so the pattern is shaped more like a teardrop.

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No. If your antenna has a perfect impedance match, then the gain is approximately $$G=\frac{4\pi A}{\lambda^2}$$where A is the array aperture array. To get an exact value requires analysis with an EM simulation code or measurement in an antenna test range.