Open AccessSurface adjustment strategy for a large radio telescope with adjustable dual reflectors
Author(s) -
Lian Peiyuan,
Wang Congsi,
Xue Song,
Xu Qian,
Shi Yu,
Jia Yu,
Xiang Binbin,
Wang Yan,
Yan Yuefei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iet microwaves, antennas and propagation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.555
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1751-8733
pISSN - 1751-8725
DOI - 10.1049/iet-map.2019.0387
Subject(s) - reflector (photography) , radio telescope , telescope , compensation (psychology) , optics , aperture (computer memory) , surface (topology) , elevation (ballistics) , focus (optics) , computer science , remote sensing , physics , acoustics , geology , geometry , mathematics , astronomy , psychoanalysis , psychology , light source
With the development of large‐aperture and high‐frequency radio telescopes, a surface adjustment procedure for the compensation of surface deformations has become of great importance. In this study, an innovative surface adjustment strategy is proposed to achieve an automated adjustment for the large radio telescope with adjustable dual reflectors. In the proposed strategy, a high‐precision and long‐distance measurement instrument is adopted and installed on the back of the sub‐reflector to measure the distances and elevation angles of the target points on the main reflector. Here, two surface adjustment purposes are discussed. The first purpose is to ensure that the main reflector and sub‐reflector are always positioned at their ideal locations during operation. The second purpose is to adjust the main reflector to the location of the best fitting reflector, and the sub‐reflector to the focus of the best fitting reflector. Next, the calculation procedures for the adjustments of the main reflector and the sub‐reflector are discussed in detail, and corresponding simulations are carried out to verify the proposed method. The results show that the proposed strategy is effective. This study can provide helpful guidance for the design of automated surface adjustments for large telescopes.