Space-qualified Additive Manufacturing and its Application to Active Antenna Harmonic Filters
Stefano Sirci, Esteban Menargues, Mathieu Billod
Abstract
The objectives of this paper are to introduce a new manufacturing technique for space applications, and to present a harmonic filter for active antennas in Ka-band, both developed by SWISSto12. The new manufacturing technique is based on metal 3D printing followed by plating for insertion loss enhancement. The end-to-end manufacturing technique (including the plating) has been qualified and has already flight heritage. The conception of the harmonic filter is used to explain the main steps of the manufacturing process.
Topics & Concepts
HarmonicFilter (signal processing)Antenna (radio)Plating (geology)Electronic engineeringManufacturing processComputer scienceEngineeringManufacturing engineeringMaterials scienceElectrical engineeringAcousticsPhysicsComposite materialGeophysicsAdvanced Antenna and Metasurface Technologies3D IC and TSV technologiesMicrowave Engineering and Waveguides