Method and apparatus for calibrating an electronically scanned reflector
AssigneeBall Aerospace & Technologies Corp.
InventorsFarzin Lalezari, P. Keith Kelly
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method an apparatus for calibrating an electronically scanned reflector (ESR) antenna to compensate for mechanical distortions in a reflector and feed thereof first determines displacement values for a multitude of points on the reflector and the feed. The displacement values are then analyzed to determine the types of distortion, if any, that are present within the ESR antenna system. Compensation values are then determined for each of a plurality of beam positions based on the type(s) of distortion identified. The compensation values are stored in a lookup table for later use in generating antenna beams in the corresponding beam position.
Claims30
A method for calibrating an electronically scanned reflector (ESR) antenna including a reflector and a phased array feed having a plurality of antenna elements, comprising the steps of:
- measuring a mechanical displacement associated with a plurality of points on the reflector and a plurality of points on the phased array feed, said measuring step resulting in a plurality of displacement values;
- analyzing said plurality of displacement values to ascertain a type of distortion, if any, within the reflector and a type of distortion, if any, within the phased array feed;
- and
- determining compensation values for use in connection with said plurality of antenna elements for compensating for mechanical distortions within said ESR antenna system based on the types of distortion ascertained in said step of analyzing, said step of determining compensation values includes determining a set of compensation values for each of a plurality of antenna beam positions to be supported by said ESR antenna system and storing said compensation values in memory in association with corresponding antenna beam positions for later use in generating antenna beams in said antenna beam positions.
A method for calibrating an electronically scanned reflector (ESR) antenna including a reflector and a phased array feed having a plurality of antenna elements, comprising the steps of:
- measuring a mechanical displacement associated with each of a plurality of points on said reflector and each of a plurality of points on said phased array feed, said measuring step resulting in a plurality of displacement values;
- for a first beam position of the ESR antenna, determining a phase compensation value for each antenna element within a subset of said plurality of antenna elements associated with said first beam position using said plurality of displacement values;
- and
- storing said phase compensation values in a memory for later use in generating an antenna beam in said first beam position.
A self-calibrating electronically scanned reflector (ESR) antenna system, comprising:
- a reflector having a feed array located approximately at a focal point thereof for generating an antenna beam in any of a plurality of predetermined beam positions;
- means for determining displacement values for a plurality of points on said reflector and a plurality of points on said feed array, said displacement values indicating a displacement between an actual location of said points and a desired location of said points;
- means for ascertaining mechanical distortion types present within said reflector and said feed array, if any, based on said displacement values;
- means for generating compensation values for said ESR antenna system based on said distortion types identified by said means for ascertaining;
- and
- a memory that stores said compensation values for each of said plurality of predetermined beam positions being supported by said ESR antenna system, said compensation values being used in generating antenna beams in said predetermined beam positions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.