Effect of Mechanical Deformations on the Radiation Patterns of Large Space-Based Arrays.

摘要

Large phased arrays for space applications require light-weight deployable structures. As these structures are not completely rigid, they undergo dynamic deformations in orbit that are typically expressed as mechanical modes of surface position. In contrast with conventional antenna tolerance theory, which is based on a random Gaussian representation of manufacturing tolerance, these deformations follow a deterministic function. The effects of these mechanical deformations on the radiation performance of the phased array are analyzed. Closed-form solutions are presented for uniformly illuminated array, and results are shown for various mechanical modes. Tapered-amplitude array excitation is hen treated numerically and contrasted with uniformly excited arrays. The array patterns resulting from modal errors and random errors are compared. Keywords: Deployable antennas; Fourier series; Integral equation; Phased array; Probability theory; Radiation pattern; Random error; Satellite antennas. (EG)