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What antennas are used for satellite communications?

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Satellite antennas range from parabolic dishes for geostationary (GEO) Ku-band and Ka-band services, to electronically steered flat-panel arrays that track low-Earth-orbit (LEO) constellations, to low-gain helices, quadrifilar helices and patches for L-band mobile services. Their key figures are G/T for receive and EIRP for transmit.[1]

Why do GEO terminals use dishes?

GEO satellites sit about 35,786 km above the equator, so free-space path loss at 12 GHz exceeds 200 dB. A fixed dish with 30–40 dBi of gain provides the margin, and since the satellite appears stationary, no tracking is needed beyond initial alignment.[1][2]

Why do LEO terminals use phased arrays?

LEO satellites cross the sky in minutes, so terminals must track continuously and hand over between satellites. Electronically steered flat panels do this without moving parts, at the cost of scan loss toward low elevations and complex beamforming electronics.[3]

What propagation effects matter?

Rain attenuation dominates above about 10 GHz, particularly at Ka-band, and is predicted with ITU-R P.618 and P.838; ionospheric scintillation and Faraday rotation affect L-band and lower, one reason for circular polarization.[4][5]

Frequently asked questions

Which bands do satellite TV dishes use?

Ku-band downlinks around 10.7–12.75 GHz in many regions.

Why are satellite TV dishes offset?

To avoid feed blockage and keep the dish near vertical.

What is G/T?

Receive gain divided by system noise temperature, in dB/K.

References

Online sources accessed October 21, 2026; printed works cited by edition. See all sources.

  1. “Satellite Communications Systems, 5th ed.”. G. Maral and M. Bousquet, Wiley. 2009.
  2. “Recommendation ITU-R P.525: Calculation of free-space attenuation”. ITU-R. current edition.
  3. “Phased Array Antenna Handbook, 3rd ed.”. R. J. Mailloux, Artech House. 2017.
  4. “Recommendation ITU-R P.618: Propagation data and prediction methods required for the design of Earth-space telecommunication systems”. ITU-R. current edition.
  5. “Recommendation ITU-R P.838: Specific attenuation model for rain for use in prediction methods”. ITU-R. current edition.
Categories: Applications by band