Gateway Arrays
An Array of Arrays
While parabolic dishes are generally effective for gateways communicating with geostationary satellites, they’re limited when it comes to tracking fast-moving LEO satellites.
ThinKom engineers have designed a unique approach to solve this problem by tightly arranging phased arrays into a compact, single antenna. The dynamic element allocation forms independently steerable and reconfigurable beams to simultaneously track LEO satellites.
Reconfigurable on Demand
mix and match on the fly:
beam count, beam position, polarization and equivalent dish size
Low Maintenance
Without complex drive mechanisms or heavy reflectors, ThinKom gateway arrays require far less maintenance than parabolic dishes.
Lower Profile, Better Scan Agility
Our phased arrays’ low profile significantly reduces wind-loading and visual signature. The array element arrangement is curved to provide additional scanning capability at low elevation angles. Assembly is elevated off the ground for cable routing, antenna control units and rain/snow run-off.
Multiple array sizes will be available to accommodate specific requirements and afford flexible installation options. For example, in the to-scale image above, the sample array includes 37 individual elements. This is roughly the equivalent to eight 2.4 m parabolic dishes, each standing about 4 m high, while a 19-element array would equate to approximately three 2.4 m dishes.
Less Real Estate
With parabolic dishes, at least a 15-meter separation between them is required to prevent antenna blockage. Our phased-array approach completely eliminates blockage issues, consumes less than 20% of the real estate and significantly reduces installation costs.
Patented Technology
Our gateway arrays are engineered with the same patented VICTS technology that gives thousands of daily airline passengers fast, reliable Wi-Fi.
Combining the advantages of mechanically steered and electronically scanned arrays, our antennas avoid the limitations of both and are in a class by themselves.
Simply put, our patented technology enables extreme performance efficiency in a compact package, delivering higher throughput at lower bandwidth costs than other phased arrays in any form factor.
The building block: a single antenna element
