KU Series Overview
The 12.0 to 18.0 GHz Ku-band is the workhorse of commercial satellite communications: broadcast satellite, VSAT terminals, and increasingly low-earth-orbit constellations like Starlink and OneWeb. It’s also a frequency range where absorber selection becomes counterintuitive: thinner is often better. At Ku-band wavelengths (17 to 25 mm), thick absorbers can introduce more reflection than they suppress, particularly when installed close to active components. The KU Series uses iron-loaded silicone with a loading level shifted higher than lower-band variants, allowing meaningful absorption in a single optimized thickness.
The KU Series is most commonly deployed in SATCOM terminals, phased array antennas, microwave backhaul links operating in Ku-band, broadcast satellite ground equipment, and test fixtures for Ku-band measurement systems. It is particularly effective for lining cavity walls and shielding compact RF assemblies in space-constrained microwave platforms where component density makes coupling and resonance hard to control through layout alone.
The KU Series is supplied in a single 0.045″ thickness, the optimal depth for Ku-band absorption based on wavelength constraints in the 12 to 18 GHz range. At these wavelengths, the optimal thickness window is narrow, so 3PB curated the lineup to a single optimized option rather than offering parametric choices that would underperform. The KU Series is a fixed loading level formulation; customization options include in-house die-cutting for direct integration into SATCOM modules, antenna assemblies, and phased array platforms. Standard PSA backing is available.
Electrical Properties
