Analytical approximation of a distorted reflector surface defined by a discrete set of points

Reflector antennas on Earth orbiting spacecrafts generally cannot be described analytically. The reflector surface is subjected to a large temperature fluctuation and gradients, and is thus warped from its true geometrical shape. Aside from distortion by thermal stresses, reflector surfaces are often purposely shaped to minimize phase aberrations and scanning losses. To analyze distorted reflector antennas defined by discrete surface points, a numerical technique must be applied to compute an interpolatory surface passing through a grid of discrete points. In this paper, the distorted reflector surface points are approximated by two analytical components: an undistorted surface component and a surface error component. The undistorted surface component is a best fit paraboloid polynomial for the given set of points and the surface error component is a Fourier series expansion of the deviation of the actual surface points, from the best fit paraboloid. By applying the numerical technique to approximate the surface normals of the distorted reflector surface, the induced surface current can be obtained using physical optics technique. These surface currents are integrated to find the far field radiation pattern

The Impedance of a Loop Near a Conducting Half-Space

The change in complex impedance between an ideal one-turn circular coil located above and parallel to a conducting half-space with respect to a similar isolated coil has been calculated. From this result a series expansion of the integrand allows the solution to be approximated by terms expressed as complete elliptic integrals. Results have been calculated for the change in impedance as a function of the lift-off distance and the conductivity of the half-space for a coil of representative.radius

Experimental Demonstration of Microwave Signal/Electric Thruster Plasma Interaction Effects

An experiment was designed and conducted in the Electric Propulsion Laboratory of NASA Lewis Research Center to assess the impact of ion thruster exhaust plasma plume on electromagnetic signal propagation. A microwave transmission experiment was set up inside the propulsion test bed using a pair of broadband horn antennas and a 30 cm 2.3 kW ion thruster. Frequency of signal propagation covered from 6.5 to 18 GHz range. The stainless steel test bed when enclosed can be depressurized to simulate a near vacuum environment. A pulsed CW system with gating hardware was utilized to eliminate multiple chamber reflections from the test signal. Microwave signal was transmitted and received between the two hours when the thruster was operating at a given power level in such a way that the signal propagation path crossed directly through the plume volume. Signal attenuation and phase shift due to the plume was measured for the entire frequency band. Results for this worst case configuration simulation indicate that the effects of the ion thruster plume on microwave signals is a negligible attenuation (within 0.15 dB) and a small phase shift (within 8 deg.). This paper describes the detailed experiment and presents some of the results

Antenna Near-Field Probe Station Scanner

A miniaturized antenna system is characterized non-destructively through the use of a scanner that measures its near-field radiated power performance. When taking measurements, the scanner can be moved linearly along the x, y and z axis, as well as rotationally relative to the antenna. The data obtained from the characterization are processed to determine the far-field properties of the system and to optimize the system. Each antenna is excited using a probe station system while a scanning probe scans the space above the antenna to measure the near field signals. Upon completion of the scan, the near-field patterns are transformed into far-field patterns. Along with taking data, this system also allows for extensive graphing and analysis of both the near-field and far-field data. The details of the probe station as well as the procedures for setting up a test, conducting a test, and analyzing the resulting data are also described

Probe Station and Near-Field Scanner for Testing Antennas

A facility that includes a probe station and a scanning open-ended waveguide probe for measuring near electromagnetic fields has been added to Glenn Research Center's suite of antenna-testing facilities, at a small fraction of the cost of the other facilities. This facility is designed specifically for nondestructive characterization of the radiation patterns of miniaturized microwave antennas fabricated on semiconductor and dielectric wafer substrates, including active antennas that are difficult to test in traditional antenna-testing ranges because of fragility, smallness, or severity of DC-bias or test-fixture requirements. By virtue of the simple fact that a greater fraction of radiated power can be captured in a near-field measurement than in a conventional far-field measurement, this near-field facility is convenient for testing miniaturized antennas with low gains

RF MEMS Phase Shifters and their Application in Phase Array Antennas

Electronically scanned arrays are required for space based radars that are capable of tracking multiple robots, rovers, or other assets simultaneously and for beam-hopping communication systems between the various assets. ^Traditionally, these phased array antennas used GaAs Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) phase shifters, power amplifiers, and low noise amplifiers to amplify and steer the beam, but the development of RF MEMS switches over the past ten years has enabled system designers to consider replacing the GaAs MMIC phase shifters with RF Micro-Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) phase shifters. In this paper, the implication of replacing the relatively high loss GaAs MMICs with low loss MEMS phase shifters is investigated

Acoustic simulation of airframe mounted conical spiral antenna

The radiation coverage of circularly polarized electromagnetic antennas mounted on complex aerodynamic bodies were simulated by ultrasonic simulation technique. Special acoustic transducers were used to simulate the hemispherical radiation pattern of conical spiral antennas, and were mounted on 22.6 wavelength scaled down ultrasonic models of Bomarc and BQM-34A airframes for simulation work. [...]Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department o

Experimental Results of the Impact of an Ion Thruster Plasma on Microwave Propagation

Electric thrusters are being considered for a variety of space missions because of the significant propellant savings that result from the use of high performance, electric propulsion technologies, Propellant mass savings reduces spacecraft launch requirements and increases mission lifetime and payload. The impact of electric thruster plasma plumes on microwave signal propagation however is an important spacecraft integration concern. Arcjets were the first electric thrusters to be considered for operational missions. Ling, et al., studied the effect of arcjet plumes on propagation. Arcjets produce a lightly ionized plume and Ling's analysis predicted that the plume would have a negligible effect on communication. Plumes from the higher performance ion thrusters being developed exhibit higher ionization levels, plasma temperatures and particle velo@ities than arcjets. Therefore, there was a need to assess the impact due to these plumes. To address this need, the authors designed and performed a series of experiments to examine propagation effects of plumes. The challenge with these experiments was that they had to be performed in the operational environment of the thruster. Therefore, the experiments were conducted inside a metal chamber which could be depressurized to simulate a near vacuum condition of space. The metal chamber presents a potential large source of error to the propagation measurements due to the corruption of the desired data by multiple wall reflections within the chamber. This chamber effect was minimized by employing a pulsed-continuous wave transmitter and receiver system. This system, based on an HP8510 Network Analyzer, uses external hardware time gating to eliminate the clutter of the spurious reflections. Additionally, high gain antennas were used in the measurements to ensure that minimal amounts of energy ",ere transmitted/received in undesirable directions. The measurements took place in Vacuum Facility 5 of the Electric Propulsion Laboratory at the NASA Glenn Research Center. This facility utilizes a cylindrical, stainless steel, vacuum chamber, which is 18.3 m long and 4.6 m in diameter. For the tests being described here a 30 cm diameter, xenon ion thruster was used. The thruster provided between 500 W and 2.3 kW of operating power. The thruster was mounted on a stand along the axis of the chamber near one of its ends

An Overview of the Antenna Measurement Facilities at the NASA Glenn Research Center

For the past twenty years, the NASA Glenn Research Center (formerly Lewis Research Center) in Cleveland, Ohio, has developed and maintained facilities for the evaluation of antennas. This effort has been in support of the work being done at the center in the research and development of space communication systems. The wide variety of antennas that have been considered for these systems resulted in a need for several types of antenna ranges at the Glenn Research Center. Four ranges, which are part of the Microwave Systems Laboratory, are the responsibility of the staff of the Applied RF Technology Branch. A general description of these ranges is provided in this paper