A Battle Against Physics: Building the Perfect Low-Cost Satellite Antenna

<p>If you’ve purchased a new car in the last decade, you probably also own a mobile satellite antenna – albeit for satellite radio. These antennas became standard issue for new automobiles because they are small enough and cheap enough to mass produce. Delivering radio services one-way is a lot less complicated than delivering satellite internet, and yet, the goal for satellite broadband antenna developers is the same – make an antenna system small and cheap enough to mass produce so that more industries and more consumers can afford to adopt them. </p> <p>Our guest for today’s episode is the moderator of one of the most popular sessions at the SATELLITE show – <a href= "https://www.satshow.com/program/#session-a0F3b00001GIzKbEAL" data-feathr-click-track="true">How can the industry overcome design constraints and build the perfect low-cost antenna?</a> Whitney Lohmeyer, assistant professor of engineering at <strong>Olin College</strong> and a research affiliate at <strong>MIT</strong> in aeronautics and astronautics, is an expert on ground systems development. Since becoming the very first engineer hired at <strong>OneWeb</strong>, she has worked closely with industry to advise on end-to-end system design, antenna systems, Radio Frequency (RF) power amplification, radiation tolerance, and spectrum strategy.  </p> <p>In this episode, <em>On Orbit</em> host Jeffrey Hill asks Whitney some of the most common questions <em>Via Satellite</em> receives about satellite ground systems. Whitney gives us her thoughts on how today’s modern antenna systems compare and perform, as well as a sneak peak at what she intends to cover at her session at SATELLITE.</p>