Applications and Limitations of the Hybrid L1/L2Multicarrier Analysis Method

Abstract: The multipactor phenomenon is a major concern in modern satellites that operate with highpower transmission in many frequency bands. It occurs when electrons inside RF componentsare accelerated by the RF fields. These electrons then hit walls inside the device, produc-ing secondary electrons. As the number of electrons increases, it may create noise inside thecomponent, thus deteriorating the original signal-to-noise ratio. When designing radio fre-quency equipment for space applications, it is therefore important to know at which powerlevels this occurs. Multicarrier simulations are time consuming and demand high amounts ofcomputer resources. In this thesis the hybrid L1/L2 method has been tested, which is a methodthat separates the geometric and multicarrier simulations into two parts resulting in a shortercomputation time. The conclusion is that the method is more reliable than single carrier sim-ulations, and that it can be used as a first step in the designing process of RF components.It is also a way of estimating a preliminary threshold before starting a full-scale multicarriersimulation.