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. 

Our guest for today’s episode is the moderator of one of the most popular sessions at the SATELLITE show – How can the industry overcome design constraints and build the perfect low-cost antenna? Whitney Lohmeyer, assistant professor of engineering at Olin College and a research affiliate at MIT in aeronautics and astronautics, is an expert on ground systems development. Since becoming the very first engineer hired at OneWeb, 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.  

In this episode, On Orbit host Jeffrey Hill asks Whitney some of the most common questions Via Satellite 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.