Test Hat for GNSS All-Bands Antennas

The Test Hat consists of a cylindrical aluminium cavity lined with absorber material and terminated by an RF probe. Its single-part construction eliminates the need for a mounting bracket on the satellite panel: it screws directly onto the GNSS All-Bands Antenna via the 4 × M3 interface, with an oriented slot ensuring correct positioning every time. This minimises manipulation steps, reduces the risk of antenna damage during testing, and makes mounting and dismounting safe and fast at any stage of integration.

The Test Hat is compatible with thermal vacuum environments, with low outgassing properties qualifying it for use inside a TVAC chamber. This means the same tool used for RF functional testing on the assembly bench can be kept in place for TVAC testing, without requiring removal and reinstallation between test phases. Combined with its low RF leakage design — protecting operators from radiation during the test — it covers every critical stage of a satellite’s AIT campaign with a single, simple tool.

The Test Hat covers the full 1 160–1 610 MHz range with a coupling factor of approximately −29 dB and a variation of less than 1 dB across all lower GNSS bands (L2/L5, E5a/E5b/E6, G2/G3, B2/B3) and less than 0.5 dB at the primary navigation bands (GPS L1, Galileo E1, GLONASS G1, BeiDou B1). This flat coupling response ensures that measurements taken with the Test Hat are directly comparable across test sessions, platforms and test campaigns — giving integration teams consistent, reliable RF characterisation data throughout the satellite programme.