Performance Coordination of Structure and Deployment Properties of Deployable Antenna

Abstract

The cable-net structure is an important part of the deployable mesh antenna, which determines the accuracy of the reflector surface and also has a nonnegligible influence on the deployment of the antenna. In this study, the AstroMesh antenna (Astro Aerospace, Northrop Grumman, Oxnard, California) is investigated. First, this influence is studied from the perspective of work. Then, the driving force for the deployment of the antenna is deduced considering the nonlinear factors, such as the cable-net and friction, according to the conservation of energy. Moreover, the effects of the cable force and the height of the rear net on the driving force are studied. According to the aforementioned research, an optimization model of the cable-net structure is proposed. By designing the cable net reasonably, the performance of work and the deployment for the antenna are coordinated well. Finally, according to the prototype of a 2-m-aperture deployable AstroMesh antenna, different cable-net structures are designed. The corresponding peak value of the driving force and the fundamental frequency of the deployed antenna are measured. The experimental results verify the validity of the optimization method.