Mesh Generation of Elliptical Aperture Reflectors
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 32, Issue 4
Abstract
Offset-feed elliptical aperture reflectors have better mechanical and electrical performance than circular aperture reflectors and are an inevitable trend for the future development of high-precision space-borne antennas. The surface mesh geometry is crucially important to ensure surface accuracy and effective aperture of mesh reflectors. This paper proposes a quadratic-curve method for mesh generation of elliptical aperture reflectors that can achieve an attractive pretension uniformity and large effective aperture. From the mechanical behavior point of view, the generated cable net is beneficial to the truss. First, the steps to generate the quadratic-curve cable net for elliptical aperture reflectors are proposed. Then, the nodal coordinates of cable net are optimized using a dynamic adjustment method of nodes. The numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51775403).
References
Agrawal, P. K., M. S. Anderson, and M. Card. 1981. “Preliminary design of large reflectors with flat facets.” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 29 (4): 688–694. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAP.1981.1142631.
Aoki, K., S. Makino, and K. Kagoshima. 1993. “Design method for an offset dual-shaped reflector antenna with high efficiency and an elliptical beam.” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 140 (2): 121–128. https://doi.org/10.1049/ip-h-2.1993.0019.
Brown, K. W., and A. Prata. 1996. “A closed-form solution for an elliptical-beam offset dual-reflector antenna efficiently illuminated by an axially-symmetric feed pattern.” In Proc., IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Int. Symp., 238–241. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE.
Deng, H. Q., T. J. Li, and Z. W. Wang. 2016. “Design of geodesic cable net for space deployable mesh reflectors.” Acta Astron. 119 (Feb–Mar): 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2015.10.024.
Liu, G., B. Q. Gao, and Y. Wang. 1997. “An elliptical-beam reflector antenna for satellite communication system.” IEEE J. Beijing Inst. Technol. 6 (3): 267–273. https://doi.org/10.15918/j.jbit1004-0579.1997.03.013.
Liu, W., D. Li, and J. Jiang. 2014. “General mesh configuration design approach for large cable-network antenna reflectors.” J. Struct. Eng. 140 (2): 441–454. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0000816.
Morterolle, S., B. Maurin, J. Quirant, and C. Dupuy. 2012. “Numerical form-finding of geotensoid tension truss for mesh reflector.” Acta Astronaut. 76 (Jul–Aug): 154–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.02.025.
Nayfeh, A. H., and M. S. Hefzy. 1980. Geometric modeling and analysis of large latticed surfaces. NASA-CR-3156. Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Shi, H., B. Yang, and H. Fang. 2013. “Offset-feed surface mesh generation for design of space deployable mesh reflectors.” In Proc., 54th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Material Conf., 1526. Boston: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Shi, H., S. Yuan, and B. Yang. 2018. “New methodology of surface mesh geometry design for deployable mesh reflectors.” J. Spacecraft Rockets 55 (2): 266–281. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.A33867.
Spong, M. W., S. Hutchinson, and M. Vidyasagar. 2006. “Robot modeling and control.” Ind. Rob. Int. J. 33 (5): 403. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2006.33.5.403.1.
Tang, Y. Q., T. J. Li, and X. F. Ma. 2016. “Form-finding of cable net reflector antennas considering creep and recovery behaviors.” J. Spacecraft Rockets 53 (4): 610–618. https://doi.org/10.2514/1.A33548.
Tang, Y. Q., T. J. Li, Z. W. Wang, and H. Deng. 2014. “Surface accuracy analysis of large deployable antennas.” Acta Astronaut. 104 (1): 125–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2014.07.029.
Thomson, M. W. 2000. “The AstroMesh deployable reflector.” In Vol. 80 of Proc., IUTAM-IASS Symp. on Deployable Structures: Theory and Applications, edited by S. Pellegrino and S. D. Guest. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Tibert, G. 2002. “Deployable tensegrity structures for space applications.” Ph.D. dissertation, Royal Institute of Technology Dept. of Mechanics, Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan.
Tibert, G. 2003. “Optimal design of tension truss antennas.” In Proc., 44th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC structures. Structural Dynamics and Material Conf., 1629. Norfolk, VA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Wang, X., J. Cai, R. Yang, and J. Feng. 2018. “Form-finding of deployable mesh reflectors using dynamic relaxation method.” Acta Astronaut. 151 (Oct): 380–388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.06.017.
Yahya, R. S. 2003. “Jacobi-Bessel analysis of reflector antennas with elliptical apertures.” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag. 35 (9): 1070–1074. https://doi.org/10.1109/tap.1987.1144222.
Yang, D. W. 2012. “Least-norm method for pretension optimization of mesh reflector.” J. Mech. Eng. 48 (21): 22. https://doi.org/10.3901/JME.2012.21.022.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 32 • Issue 4 • July 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 5, 2018
Accepted: Nov 21, 2018
Published online: Mar 20, 2019
Published in print: Jul 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Aug 20, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.