Characterization of effects of periodic and aperiodic surface distortions on membrane reflector antennas

The focus of this paper is to characterize the effects of periodic and aperiodic surface distortions on the performance of membrane reflector antennas. Since the surface of this class of reflector antennas is very thin, it is susceptible to various types of periodic and aperiodic distortions. The particular antenna dimensions used for this study are similar to the specifications for the JPL/UCLA half scale model of second generation precipitation radar (PR-2) mission reflector. Analytical expressions are introduced to model periodic and aperiodic surfaces and based on these models the effects of distortions on the radiation performance of the antenna are simulated. Aperiodic distortions are more realistic cases of distortions due to the fact that the period of the distortions is not constant through out the reflector surface. For each case, far-field patterns of the reflector are simulated and it is shown that closed-form expressions can then be derived which result in a very efficient computational method to predict some of the unique features of these patterns including location and level of observed grating lobes. Furthermore, based on spatial Fourier analysis of the surface distortion, it is shown that deviation from periodicity in the distortions of reflector surface results in lowering these grating lobes. Parametric studies have been performed to provide design guidelines for acceptable surface behavior for large deployable membrane reflector antennas for future space borne missions.     

具有局部凸起形变反射面天线的方向图仿真

针对反射面天线受撞击表面形变问题,利用二次曲面交截椭圆建立局部凸起形变的数学模型,运用基于表面电流积分的物理光学方法计算辐射方向图,研究了天线发生形变后辐射特性随形变面积和形变位置的变化规律。结果表明,随着形变面积的扩大,副瓣电平逐渐升高;形变位于中心位置时,对方向图的影响最为显著。     

Surface accuracy of Cassegrain antennas

For a Cassegrain antenna system, a simple and general procedure is presented for computing the effective surface root mean square (rms) and beam deviations considering primary surface distortions and relative translations and rotations of the antenna components. It is shown that certain primary reflector distortions can be compensated for by an appropriate adjustment of the subreflector position. Different methods in use for calculating surface rms are reviewed. It is shown that the method in which the deformed configuration of the primary reflector is best fitted with another paraboloid yields a surface rms almost equal to that obtained by the optimal positioning of the antenna components. The actual deformation patterns of several large Cassegrain antenna systems with different structural concepts are reviewed. It is shown that for a class of antenna structures, the gain can be significantly improved by an optimal positioning of the subreflector.     

Subreflectarrays for Reflector Surface Distortion Compensation

With the increasing interest in the applications of large deployable reflector antennas operating at high frequencies, the requirement on the reflector surface accuracy becomes more demanding. Thermal effects inevitably cause certain reflector surface distortions, thus degrading the overall antenna performance. This paper introduces a novel reflector surface distortion compensation technique using a subreflectarray and presents detailed discussions. A microstrip reflectarray is used as a subreflector, illuminated by a primary feed. By properly adjusting the additional phase shift provided by the subreflectarray, the aperture phase errors caused by the main reflector surface distortions are compensated, resulting in a considerably improved antenna performance. As an example, a distorted 20-m offset parabolic reflector antenna operating at X-band is successfully compensated by a subreflectarray, and the simulation results are compared with those obtained by array feed and shaped subreflector compensation techniques. The microstrip subreflectarray is low-profile, lightweight, and cost-effective. Only one primary feed is required, and a reconfigurable design can be achieved if electronically reconfigurable reflectarray elements are adopted.      

Microwave holography of large reflector antennas--Simulation algorithms

The performance of large reflector antennas can be improved by identifying the location and amount of their surface distortions and then by correcting them. Microwave holography techniques are finding considerable applications as viable tools for performing this task. In these techniques, the complex (amplitude and phase) far-field pattern of the antenna is measured, using a reference antenna. Then, the Fourier transform relationship, which exists between the far field and a function related to the induced current, is invoked to result in the identification of the surface distortions. To critically examine the accuracy of the constructed surface profiles, simulation studies are required to incorporate both the effects of systematic and random distortions, particularly the effects of the displaced surface panels. In this paper, different simulation models are investigated with emphasis given to a model based on the vector diffraction analysis of a curved reflector with displaced panels. The simulated far-field patterns are then used to reconstruct the location and amount of displacement of the surface panels by employing a fast Fourier transform (FFT)/iterative procedure. The sensitivity of the microwave holography technique based on the number of far-field sampled points, level of distortions, polarizations, illumination tapers, etc., is also examined. In addition, the relationships between Az-El andu-vspaces are addressed in the Appendix. Most of the data are tailored to the dimensions of the NASA/JPL Deep Space Network (DSN) 64-m reflector antennas for which the result of a recent measurement is also presented.     

A surface distortion analysis applied to the hoop/column deployablemesh reflector antenna

A practical approach is demonstrated for the deterministic analysis of surface distortions in reflector antennas, based on a first-order approximation to the aperture field phase. Measured pattern results from the 15-m-diameter hoop/column deployable mesh reflector antenna are used to demonstrate the accuracy which can be obtained with this surface distortion analysis. The only practical limitation of the first-order approximation is determined by the slope derivations of the distorted surface from the best-fit paraboloid     

表面误差对反射面天线电性能的影响

 针对反射面天线存在的误差问题,建立了包含系统误差和随机误差对电性能影响的数学模型.该模型根据表面误差与口径面相位分布的关系,利用口径法得到功率方向图.通过对模型分析可知,随机误差对方向图各个方位产生影响;系统误差产生栅瓣,且栅瓣的位置和电平取决于变形情况.最后将模型应用到8米口径的抛物面天线中,收到了满意的结果,验证了文中模型和方法的正确性.     

用PTD分析双弯曲反射面天线形变和穿孔的辐射特性

该文根据模型反射面天线的爆炸实验测试结果建立了反射面天线形变的数学模型,应用物理光学(P0)法和物理绕射(PTD)理论计钟:了一种赋形反射面天线形变后的辐射特性,同时还计算了反射面天线表面被爆炸破片穿孔后的辐射特性,结果表明,由于反射面的局部形变,直接导致辐射方向图的恶化,并且随着形变部分面积的增大,水平面的副瓣抬高很大,穿孔也会使水平面的副瓣抬高。     

表面误差对双弯曲反射面天线副瓣的影响

天线反射面的表面误差会引起反射面天线的副瓣发生变化。为确定赋形波束双弯曲反射面天线反射面的表面误差与反射面天线副瓣最大值变化之间的关系,采用数理统计的方法,对受到随机表面误差影响的面电流积分,得到天线辐射场。随机表面误差用相关半径和Z向随机误差两个参量表示。根据随机表面误差求出其天线最大副瓣样本分布函数,较好地展现了表面误差引起的副瓣最大值变化,使得反射面天线表面误差引起的副瓣变化可预测,为天线反射面加工的精度要求提供了理论依据。     

Numerical technique for shaping reflecting surfaces to synthesize antenna patterns

Algorithms for shaping offset dual reflector antenna surfaces are presented which use small areas of optimally tilted conic sections reported by Y. Mizugutch for starting up a numerical synthesis of reflector surfaces. A new ray ratio squared method is described for the precise control of antenna aperture amplitude distributions.     

Application of spherical near-field measurements to microwaveholographic diagnosis of antennas

Microwave diagnosis of antennas is considered as a viable tool for the determination of reflector surface distortions and location of defective radiating elements of array antennas. A hybrid technique based on the combination of the spherical near-field measurements and holographic metrology reconstruction is presented. The measured spherical near-field data are first used to construct the far-field amplitude and phase patterns of the antenna on specified regularized u-v coordinates. These data are then utilized in the surface profile reconstruction of the holographic technique using a fast-Fourier-transform (FFT)/iterative approach. Results of an experiment using a 156-cm reflector antenna measured at 11.3 GHz are presented for both the original antenna and the antenna with four attached bumps. Several contour and gray-scaled plots are presented for the reconstructed surface profiles of the measured antennas. The recovery effectiveness of the attached bumps has been demonstrated. The hybrid procedure presented is used to assess the achieved accuracy of the holographic reconstruction technique because of its ability to determine very accurate far-field amplitude and phase data from the spherical near-field measurements     

赋形反射面天线形变效应的研究

本文利用物理光学法（PO）分析了赋形双弯曲反射面天线在冲击波形变效应的影响下远区辐射场的变化，并由测试结果建立了反射面形变的数学模型，推导出了辐射场的计算方法。结果表明，由于反射面的局部形变，直接导致辐射方向图的恶化，并且随着形变部分面积的增大，水平面的副瓣抬高很大，不同部位的形变对方向图的影响也是不同的。中间部位形变对反射面方向图的影响要大于边缘形变对反射面方向图的影响。     

基于最小二乘法的天线变形反射面的拟合

面天线变形反射面表达式的确立是计算其电性能的重要基础 ,提出的拟合方法就是用来精确确定变形反射面的数学方程的。其基本原理是通过分析天线结构 ,根据反射面节点位移 ,最小化整个曲面上采样型值点的轴向误差的均方根 ,从而求出用来确定变形抛物面几何位置的 6个参数 ,同时也就得到了基于最小二乘法的变形反射面方程。该拟合方法简单实用 ,易于程序实现 ,能够对天线机械结构设计人员提供了理论指导与帮助。     

Coons曲面结合B样条拟合大型面天线变形反射面

为了精确反映变形反射面实际形状,该文提出了一种新的分块拟合方法。该方法首先对变形反射面进行分环分块划分,再对每个块域分别进行Coons曲面拟合,并采用周向三次与径向二次B样条曲线来确定块域的边界条件,进而得到准确的反射面变形整体和局部信息。通过对不同情况下某16m天线的机电性能综合分析,证明了此方法是准确、有效的。     

赋形反射面天线毁伤效应研究

利用物理光学法分析了赋形双弯曲反射面天线在冲击波形变效应和破片打洞效应影响下远区辐射场的变化。由测试结果建立了反射面形变的数学模型，推导出了远区辐射场的计算方法，并提出了反射面打洞的模型及其辐射场的计算方法。结果表明：形变的位置和大小对天线辐射方向图的影响是不同的，破洞的位置和大小对天线辐射方向图的影响也是不同的，文中给出了详细的对比结果。     

An E-field integral equation solution for the radiationfrom reflector antennas with struts

The E-field integral equation is applied to rotationally symmetric reflector antennas with struts. Current is allowed to flow on all the reflector surfaces and continuity is enforced at the conductor junctions. Radiation patterns are presented for a small paraboloid antenna, and the effects of the struts are clearly defined. These include the strut cone radiation, pattern asymmetries introduced by the struts, and gain loss and sidelobe level changes     

An approximation of the radiation integral for distorted reflectorantennas using surface-error decomposition

The physical optics/aperture integration (PO/AI) formulation is often used to analyze the radiation patterns of reflector antennas. In this study, the PO/AI radiation integrals for distorted reflector antennas are addressed. The surface error of the antennas is approximated by a series of surface expansion functions. The radiation integral is decomposed into a series of radiation-type integrals, each of which corresponds to one of the surface expansion functions. Each of these radiation-type integrals is then weighted by amplitude coefficients. The advantage of performing the decomposition is that each of the radiation-type integrals can be computed and the pattern data stored. The computation of the pattern for a distorted reflector antenna with a changing error profile is performed by recalling the pattern data for each perturbation term and weighting it with the amplitude coefficient. This facilitates rapid evaluation of the radiation integral in cases where the error profile is changing (for example, time-varying errors). The superposition of integrals presented in this paper was shown to be valid for surface-error profiles up to 0.1 λ rms amplitude     

Vector diffraction analysis of reflector antennas with mesh surfaces

Reflector antennas with mesh surfaces are used extensively in many satellite and ground antenna systems. A strip-aperture modeling of commonly used mesh surfaces is presented which provides considerable versatility in characterizing the mesh cells. The mesh transmission coefficients are constructed using a Floquet-modal expansion in conjuction with two dominant aperture modes. To account for the mesh local coordinates, the Eulerian angle transformation is invoked to obtain the total induced current on the curved reflector surface. General formulas are presented to show how the solid surface induced current is modified due to the transmission through the mesh. The effects of a variety of mesh configurations on both the co-polar and cross-polar patterns of reflector antennas are studied by numerically evaluating the vector diffraction integral using the Jacobi-Bessel expansion. For some special cases, a comparison is made with the results of the commonly used wire-grid formulation. Many of the numerical data are tailored to the dimensions of a conceptually designed mesh deployable offset reflector of the land mobile satellite system (LMSS).     

一种能产生针状波束和扇形波束的面天线

本文设计出了一种既能产生针状波束又能产生扇形波束的新型面天线,该天线的增益和方向图通过理论计算计算出来。本文设计实例中的面天线的针状波束的E、H平面的半功率宽度分别为2.320、2.240,而扇形波束的E、H平面的半功率宽度分别为2.010,6.40。     

Pattern synthesis of the offset reflector antenna system with lesscomplicated phased array feed

The performance degradation of an offset reflector antenna with off-axis scanning feed and distorted reflector surface can be improved by using a phased array feed. Generally, both analog attenuators and phase shifters are used in phased array feed. Yet, it seems to make the feed system very complicated. In this paper, a phase-only gradient search (POGS) algorithm is developed to optimize the performance of offset reflector antenna systems using phased array feed that is equipped with phase shifters only. This technique not only can greatly simplify the complexity of phased array feed, but also can provide the reflector antenna with better antenna gain and sidelobe level control capability. Simulation and experimental results are presented to illustrate the excellent performance of offset reflector, with limited beam scanning capability, can be obtained by using this less complicated phased array feed