Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T10:07:32.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pointing enhancement techniques for deep-space antennas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2010

Piermario Besso ,
Maurizio Bozzi ,
Marco Formaggi  and
Luca Perregrini
Piermario Besso
Affiliation:
European Space Agency (ESA/ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany.
Maurizio Bozzi*
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Marco Formaggi
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Luca Perregrini
Affiliation:
Department of Electronics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
*
Corresponding author: M. Bozzi Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present paper presents a very efficient technique for enhancing the pointing accuracy in beam-waveguide (BWG) antennas and its application to the deep space antenna DSA2 of the European Space Agency. The proposed technique permits to achieve a twofold result: on the one hand, it provides a solution to the beam aberration issue, arising when the antenna simultaneously receives from and transmits to a spacecraft moving in the transversal direction. On the other hand, it allows to perform a fast conical scan to enhance the pointing accuracy of the antenna. Both results are achieved by simple linear displacements of feeds and mirrors located in the lower part of the BWG, with a very limited deterioration of the antenna gain. The required displacements of feeds and mirrors are determined through a fast optimization algorithm, based on a top-down approach, which requires repeated physical–optics analyses of the lower part of the beam waveguide only, with a significant reduction in the computing time.

Keywords

Beam aberrationBeam waveguidesCassegrain antennasRadio astronomyReflector antennas
Type
Original Article
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 211 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1]Imbriale, W.A.: Large Antennas of the Deep Space Network, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, 2003.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2]Grasp 9 Software User Manual, TICRA Engineering Consultants, Copenhagen, Denmark.Google Scholar
[3]Bozzi, M.; Perregrini, L.; Weinzierl, J.; Winnewisser, C.: Efficient analysis of quasi-optical filters by a hybrid MoM/BI-RME method. IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., AP-49 (7) (2001), 1054–1064.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4]Besso, P.; Bozzi, M.; Formaggi, M.; Perregrini, L.: A novel technique for high-performance correction of beam aberration in deep space antennas. IEEE Antennas Wirel. Propag. Lett., 6 (2007), 376–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5]Veruttipong, W.; Slobin, S.; Franco, M.: Beam aberration correction technique for a BWG antenna, in APS Symp. 2002, Vol. 4, 2002, 132–135.Google Scholar
[6]Alvarez, L.S.; Moore, M.; Veruttipong, W.; Andrei, E.: Design and implementation of a beam-waveguide mirror control system for Vernier pointing of the DSS-13 antenna, JPL TDA Progress Report 42–117, 1994, 49–61.Google Scholar