Custom Antennas for Satellite Communication & GNSS
We design and develop custom satellite communication and GNSS antennas that deliver exceptional sensitivity, low noise, and robust signal acquisition — even in challenging environments. From compact, power-efficient antennas for handheld devices to high-gain arrays for mission-critical applications, our solutions are engineered for precision, durability, and consistent performance worldwide.
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What Are Satellite Communication & GNSS Antennas?
Satellite communication (SatCom) and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) antennas are specialized devices designed to transmit and receive signals between Earth-based equipment and orbiting satellites. Unlike conventional antennas, these must operate across vast distances, deal with extremely weak signals, and maintain high precision despite environmental and operational challenges.
Satellite Communication Antennas are used to establish two-way links with satellites for voice, data, and video transmission. They are essential in applications such as maritime communications, remote sensing, military operations, broadcast services, and disaster recovery networks. These antennas need to provide stable connections even when the platform — whether it’s a ship, aircraft, or mobile ground station — is in motion.
Satellite Communication Antennas – Real-World Examples
Starlink Dish – A flat-panel phased-array antenna used for broadband internet from SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.
Inmarsat BGAN Terminal – Portable satellite internet device with a small dish for field journalists and emergency teams.
Iridium Certus Maritime Antenna – Dome-style antenna on ships for global voice/data coverage via Iridium’s LEO network.
VSAT Dishes at Oil Rigs – Large parabolic antennas providing high-speed internet and voice links offshore.
Gogo 2Ku Aircraft Antenna – Low-profile satellite antenna mounted on airplanes for passenger Wi-Fi.
GNSS Antennas are designed to receive positioning signals from satellite constellations such as GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and BeiDou. They enable accurate location tracking for navigation, surveying, autonomous systems, and precision agriculture. High-quality GNSS antennas filter out unwanted noise, reject multipath interference, and maintain reliable reception even in obstructed or high-interference areas.
GNSS Antennas – Real-World Examples
Garmin GPSMAP Handheld Receiver – Uses a built-in patch or QHA antenna to receive GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo signals.
Trimble Zephyr 3 Geodetic Antenna – Precision choke ring GNSS antenna for land surveying and scientific research.
u-blox ANN-MB Multi-band Antenna – Compact active antenna for IoT and automotive applications.
DJI Drone GNSS Antenna – Built-in module enabling accurate positioning for flight control.
John Deere StarFire Receiver – High-precision GNSS antenna for automated farming and tractor guidance.
In both cases, the antenna is not just a signal component — it’s the critical link that ensures speed, accuracy, and reliability in global communications and navigation.
Why Antenna Performance Defines Satellite Communication & GNSS Success
In satellite communication and GNSS systems, antenna performance is not just a technical detail — it’s the single most critical factor that determines whether the system meets its intended purpose. Because satellite signals must travel thousands of kilometers through space and Earth’s atmosphere, they arrive at the antenna extremely weak and often competing with interference from other sources.
A well-engineered antenna directly impacts:
Signal Strength & Quality – A high-performance antenna maximizes received signal power while minimizing noise, ensuring data is clear, stable, and usable.
Positional Accuracy – For GNSS, even minor errors in signal reception can translate into meters of location inaccuracy. Precision-designed antennas reduce multipath errors and deliver consistent, pinpoint results.
Coverage & Reliability – In SatCom applications, maintaining a stable link during platform movement, environmental changes, or weather interference depends heavily on the antenna’s ability to track and stay aligned with satellites.
Operational Efficiency – Strong, reliable links reduce retransmissions and downtime, enabling faster communication and lower power consumption.
In many cases, the antenna design determines whether a mission succeeds or fails — whether that mission is guiding an autonomous drone, coordinating emergency relief, or enabling secure military communications. For organizations that depend on satellite-based systems, antenna performance is not an upgrade — it’s the foundation.
What Types of Antennas Are Used in Satellite Communication?
Satellite communication antennas must be designed to reliably transmit and receive signals over vast distances, often in challenging conditions. The choice of antenna type depends on factors like platform mobility, required data rate, and coverage needs. Common types include:
Parabolic Dish Antennas – Known for their high gain and narrow beamwidth, they excel at long-range point-to-point satellite links. Ideal for ground stations, broadcasting, and high-bandwidth data transfer.
Horn Antennas – Simple, durable, and efficient at high frequencies. Often used in measurement setups and feed systems for larger dishes.
Phased Array Antennas – Electronically steerable without moving parts, allowing rapid beam redirection. Favored for mobile platforms like ships, aircraft, and military vehicles.
Helical Antennas – Provide circular polarization, making them resilient to orientation changes between transmitter and receiver. Useful for satellite telemetry and communication in moving systems.
Flat Panel Antennas – Compact, lightweight, and increasingly popular for portable or vehicle-mounted SatCom solutions.
Each of these designs is optimized to manage trade-offs between size, weight, beam control, and gain — ensuring dependable connectivity whether the antenna is fixed, mobile, or integrated into complex platforms.
What Types of Antennas Are Used in GNSS?
GNSS antennas have a single mission: accurately capture extremely weak navigation signals from multiple satellites simultaneously, with minimal distortion. The antenna design plays a major role in positioning accuracy and reliability. Key types include:
Patch Antennas – Small, lightweight, and cost-effective, commonly used in consumer devices and embedded systems. Can be optimized for single or multi-frequency reception.
Helical Antennas – Compact with excellent circular polarization, making them ideal for handheld GNSS devices and small UAVs.
Choke Ring Antennas – Designed to suppress multipath interference, making them the go-to choice for high-precision surveying and scientific applications.
Active GNSS Antennas – Integrate a low-noise amplifier to boost weak satellite signals before transmission to the receiver, improving sensitivity in challenging environments.
Multi-Band GNSS Antennas – Capable of receiving multiple frequency bands (e.g., L1, L2, L5), essential for precise geolocation in professional and scientific use cases.
A properly matched GNSS antenna not only determines signal strength but also directly impacts time-to-first-fix, position stability, and immunity to interference — critical for both navigation and timing-sensitive applications.
Challenges in Designing Satellite Communication & GNSS Antennas
While satellite communication and GNSS systems rely on different technologies and serve different purposes, both demand antennas engineered to perform under highly specific and often extreme conditions. These antennas must deliver consistent, high-quality signals across vast distances, operate reliably in diverse and sometimes harsh environments, and meet strict performance metrics that leave little room for compromise.
The design process involves far more than selecting the right frequency band or physical size — it’s about overcoming technical, environmental, and application-specific hurdles that can dramatically affect reliability, accuracy, and overall system performance. The challenges for satellite communication and GNSS antennas are distinct, yet they share a common need for precise engineering and careful optimization.
Below, we break down the unique considerations for each technology.
Challenges in Designing Satellite Communication Antennas
Creating antennas for satellite communication requires balancing extreme performance demands with environmental and platform constraints. Key challenges include:
Beam Precision & Stability – Long-distance satellite links demand narrow, stable beams. Even slight pointing errors can cause significant signal loss.
Frequency Band Complexity – SatCom systems operate across diverse bands (L, S, C, Ku, Ka, and beyond), each with unique propagation behaviors. Designing antennas to optimize gain and minimize noise in these bands is a fine-tuned process.
Mobility & Tracking – On moving platforms like ships, aircraft, or land vehicles, the antenna must maintain a lock on fast-moving satellites, often requiring active tracking or phased array steering.
Size vs. Gain Trade-offs – Higher gain typically means larger apertures, but available space may be limited, especially for portable or on-the-move solutions.
Environmental Hardening – Antennas must withstand temperature extremes, high winds, salt spray, or vacuum conditions in space, while still performing at peak efficiency.
Designing for SatCom is as much about mechanical durability as it is about RF performance, requiring engineering solutions that maintain precise alignment and efficiency over years of continuous operation.
Challenges in Designing GNSS Antennas
GNSS antennas face a different set of engineering obstacles, many stemming from the need to capture ultra-weak satellite signals in real-world conditions. The most common challenges include:
Multipath Mitigation – Reflected signals from buildings, water, or terrain can distort position accuracy. Antennas must be designed to reject these unwanted paths.
Multi-Constellation & Multi-Band Reception – Modern GNSS receivers often track multiple constellations (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou) across multiple frequencies, requiring antennas that can cover wide bandwidths without performance loss.
Polarization Purity – Circular polarization must be maintained to ensure reliable reception, especially when the antenna’s orientation changes.
Integration into Compact Devices – GNSS antennas are often embedded in small devices where nearby electronics can cause interference or detuning, demanding careful isolation and tuning.
Precision & Timing Requirements – In applications like surveying, autonomous navigation, or network synchronization, even small signal distortions can cause unacceptable errors.
Successful GNSS antenna design requires optimizing sensitivity, noise rejection, and form factor — all while maintaining accuracy in diverse environments, from urban canyons to open ocean.