Design of a Wrapped Rib Mesh Reflector Antenna With a Precise Parabolic Surface and High Volume-Reduction Efficiency Using a Lightweight and Simple Mechanical Configuration

초록

In this paper, we propose a wrapped rib mesh reflector antenna with spring hinges and column stoppers for a high precision reflector surface. To achieve a high precision surface, twelve spring hinges and column stoppers are employed on the center hub, and curved ribs are connected to each spring hinge. The curved ribs are designed based on the parabola equation and are made of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP), which has both high elasticity and flexibility, enabling the ribs to be wrapped into a compact circular shape around the center hub. A conducting mesh with high reflectivity is attached to the upper surface of the deployable structure. In this configuration, the mesh can form a parabolic shape consistent with the parabola equation used in the design of the curved ribs. Therefore, the proposed mesh reflector can form a high precision reflector surface. Moreover, when the reflector is stowed in the rocket payload, the diameter of the reflector is reduced from 1.5 m to 0.2 m, and the height is maintained at 0.26 m. This means that the fabricated model has a deployment volume of 0.585 m(3) (1.5 m x 1.5 m x 0.26 m) and a stowed volume of 0.0104 m(3) (0.2 m x 0.2 m x 0.26 m), thus achieving a volume-reduction efficiency of 98.22%. To verify the electrical characteristics of the proposed antenna, the bore-sight gain of the proposed antenna is measured in the far-field environment. The measured average bore-sight gain and aperture efficiency from 2 GHz to 6 GHz are 27.4 dBi and 18.1%, respectively, which agrees well with the simulated results of 26.7 dBi and 14.4%. These results show a 4.4 dB decrease compared to the average bore-sight gain (31.8 dBi) when using a gold-coated molybdenum mesh with 97% reflectivity.

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