Lightweight 3.66 - Meter – Diameter Conical Mesh Antenna Reflector

摘要

This report describes a 3.66-m (12-ft) diameter nonfurlable conical mesh antenna incorporating the line source feed principle recently developed at JPL. The weight of the mesh reflector and its support structure is 162 N (36.5 lb). An area weighted RMS surface deviation of 0.23 mm (0.011 inc.) has been obtained. RF performance measurements showed a gain of 48.3 dB at 8.448 GHz corresponding to an efficiency of 66％.nDuring the design and development of this antenna, the tech¬nology for fabricating large conical membranes of knitted mesh was developed. As part of this technology a FORTRAN computer program, COMESH, was developed which permits the user to predict the surface accuracy of a stretched conical membrane.