JPH07254814A - Antenna pointing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain a large diameter of an antenna reflecting mirror by realizing highly accurate directivity control without giving adverse effect on an attitude control system. CONSTITUTION:An antenna reflecting mirror 10 is made up of plural mirror face divisions 10a and the mirror face divisions 10a are combined freely movably via an actuator 11 and the actuator 11 is selectively driven to move a desired mirror face division 10a and to adjust variably the mirror face shape of the antenna reflecting mirror 10 thereby setting the directivity.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an antenna pointing device suitable for controlling the pointing direction of an antenna reflecting mirror constructed in outer space.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an antenna pointing device of this type, an antenna reflecting mirror is disposed on a supporting structure so as to be capable of directivity control via a rotary driving mechanism, and the antenna reflecting mirror is arranged via this rotary driving mechanism. For example, a method is known in which the directional direction of the antenna reflector is set by rotationally driving in the azimuth and elevation directions.

In an antenna system provided with a sub-reflecting mirror facing the antenna reflecting mirror, the sub-reflecting mirror is disposed facing the antenna reflecting mirror with a rotary drive mechanism interposed therebetween.
A method of setting the pointing direction is adopted by rotationally driving the sub-reflecting mirror through a rotary driving mechanism.

By the way, in the above antenna pointing device, when applied to a large-diameter antenna reflecting mirror, the rotation driving mechanism becomes large, and a very large moment of inertia is generated with the rotation driving. . According to this, there is a problem that the moment of inertia generated by the rotational driving of the antenna reflector adversely affects the attitude control system of a spacecraft such as an artificial satellite, making it difficult to perform highly accurate attitude control. .

This problem is particularly caused by diversification of broadcasting or communication required in recent space development.
The large diameter of the antenna reflector is one of the important issues in future space development.

[0006]

As described above, in the conventional antenna pointing device, when the diameter of the antenna reflecting mirror is increased, the moment of inertia increases, which adversely affects the attitude control system. There is a problem that it is difficult to increase the diameter of the reflecting mirror.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to increase the diameter of the antenna reflector and to realize highly accurate pointing control without adversely affecting the attitude control system. An object of the present invention is to provide an antenna pointing device.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, an antenna reflecting mirror having a plurality of divided mirror surfaces arranged in combination so as to be movable and adjustable, and a plurality of divided mirror surfaces of the antenna reflecting mirror are provided respectively. A plurality of actuators to be respectively moved, and directivity control means for selectively controlling operation of the plurality of actuators to move the split mirror surface and variably adjusting the mirror surface shape of the antenna reflecting mirror to control the pointing direction. And an antenna pointing device.

[0009]

According to the above structure, in the antenna reflecting mirror, when a plurality of actuators are selectively driven through the direction control means, the divided mirror surfaces are selectively moved and controlled, and the mirror surface shape is variably adjusted. Then, the pointing direction is set. As a result, the moment of inertia associated with the direction control of the antenna reflector can be set to a minimum, and the enlargement of the aperture can be promoted.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an antenna pointing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. An antenna reflecting mirror 10 is formed by combining a plurality of divided mirror surfaces 10a. The split mirror surfaces 10a are independently and movably connected to the support structure 12 via actuators 11, respectively, and the arrangement position is controlled to move via the actuators 11. A drive circuit 13 is connected to each signal input terminal of the actuator 11, and a direction control unit 14 formed of, for example, a computer is connected to the drive circuit 13.

The pointing control unit 14 is connected to the output end of the tracking receiver 15 at its input end.
The output end of the RF sensor 16 is connected. RF sensor 16
Is connected to the horn 17, detects an RF signal via the horn 17, and outputs this RF signal to the tracking receiver 15. The tracking receiver 15 generates an angle error signal based on the input RF signal and outputs it to the pointing control unit 14.

The antenna reflecting mirror 10 is formed by using a flexible mirror surface material such as a solid type or a metal mesh material. In the above configuration, when setting the pointing direction of the antenna reflecting mirror 10, first, the antenna reflecting mirror 10 is set in the target direction, and the RF signal from the target is received. Here, the RF signal is input to the tracking receiver 15 via the RF sensor 16. The tracking receiver 15 is R
An angle error signal is generated based on the F signal and the pointing control unit 1
Output to 4. The pointing control unit 14 obtains an error signal for each divided mirror surface 10a based on the input angle error signal and outputs the error signal to the drive circuit 13. The drive circuit 13 generates each drive signal for each actuator 11 to drive the actuator 11, move the split mirror surface 10a as shown in FIG. 2 to change the mirror surface shape of the antenna reflecting mirror 10, and set the target direction. Set to the direction.

As described above, in the antenna pointing device, the antenna reflecting mirror 10 is formed of a plurality of divided mirror surfaces 10a, and the divided mirror surfaces 10a are movably combined and arranged through the actuators 11. To selectively drive the desired split mirror surface 10a
The directional direction is set by moving the and variably adjusting the mirror surface shape of the antenna reflecting mirror 10.
According to this, it is possible to set the generation of the moment of inertia associated with the pointing control of the antenna reflector 10 to a minimum, and it is possible to reduce the influence on the attitude control of the spacecraft to be mounted. It is possible to easily promote the enlargement of the diameter of the mirror 10.

In the above embodiment, the divided mirror surfaces 10a are moved and adjusted one by one to variably set the shape of the antenna reflection mirror surface 10. However, the invention is not limited to this. It may be configured to move and adjust each.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but may be constructed as shown in FIG. 3, for example. That is, the plurality of split mirror surfaces 10a are connected to the first actuator 21.
Are arranged so as to be movable via the second actuator 2
It is configured to have a double structure in which it is movably arranged by using 2. This makes it possible to move a plurality of split mirror surfaces simultaneously by using the second actuator 22, and further independently move the split mirror surfaces 10a by the first actuator 21 to set the mirror surface shape. It is possible to easily perform various operation controls. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0016]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to increase the diameter of the antenna reflector and to realize highly accurate pointing control without adversely affecting the attitude control system. It is possible to provide the antenna pointing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an antenna pointing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram shown for explaining the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Antenna reflector. 10a ... Split mirror surface. 11 ... Actuator. 12 ... Support structure. 13 ... Drive circuit. 14 ... Direction control unit. 15 ... Tracking receiver. 16 ... RF sensor. 17 ... Horn. 21 ... First actuator. 22 ... A second actuator.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An antenna reflecting mirror in which a plurality of divided mirror surfaces are arranged so as to be adjustable in movement, and a plurality of actuators which are respectively provided on the plurality of divided mirror surfaces of the antenna reflecting mirror and move the divided mirror surfaces. An antenna pointing device comprising: pointing control means for selectively controlling operation of the plurality of actuators to move the split mirror surface, and variably adjusting a mirror surface shape of the antenna reflecting mirror to control a pointing direction. 2. The antenna pointing device according to claim 1, wherein the actuator is arranged so as to move and adjust a predetermined number of split mirror surfaces at the same time. 3. An antenna reflecting mirror in which a plurality of split mirror surfaces are arranged in combination so as to be movable and adjusted, and a plurality of first reflecting mirror surfaces provided on the plurality of split mirror surfaces of the antenna reflecting mirror and respectively moving the split mirror surfaces. An actuator; and a plurality of second actuators that support a plurality of the first actuators and that simultaneously move a plurality of split mirror surfaces supported by the first actuators via the first actuators, An antenna pointing device comprising: directivity control means for selectively controlling the first and second actuators to move the plurality of divided mirror surfaces and variably adjusting the mirror surface shape of the antenna reflector to control the directivity direction. .