Engineering topics

Galindo-Israel, Victor

Publications and source records attributed to Galindo-Israel, Victor.

11 records

NASA NTRS1992

Scanning properties of large dual-shaped offset and symmetric reflector antennas

Several characteristics of dual offset (DOSR) and symmetric shaped reflectors are examined. Among these is the amelioration of the added cost of manufacturing a shaped reflector antenna, particularly a doubly curved surface for the DOSR, if adjustable panels, which may be necessary for correction of gravity and wind distortions, are also used for improving gain by shaping. The scanning properties of shaped reflectors, both offset and circularly symmetric, are examined and compared to conic section scanning characteristics. Scanning of the pencil beam is obtained by lateral and axial translation of a single point-source feed. The feed is kept pointed toward the center of the subreflector. The effects of power spillover and aperture phase error as a function of beam scanning is examined for several different types of large reflector designs including DOSR, circularly symmetric large f/D and smaller f/D dual reflector antenna systems. It is graphically illustrated that the Abbe-sine condition for improving scanning of an optical system cannot, inherently, be satisfied in a dual-shaped reflector system shaped for high gain and low feed spillover.

Galindo-Israel, Victor↗

NASA NTRS1991

On the reflectivity of complex mesh surfaces

Poorer than expected surface reflectivity was observed in an early Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System antenna utilizing a tricot mesh weave. This poor reflectivity was determined to be caused by inadequate electrical contact at wire crossover points. A proper mathematical and numerical approach to assess the impact of wire junctions on reflectivity performance is developed. A mathematical method is presented for computing the surface reflectivity of complex mesh configurations like those on unfurlable-type spacecraft antennas. The method is based on the Floquet mode expansion to establish an integral equation for mesh wire currents. The equation is solved using the method of moments with triangular basis functions. It is observed that it is necessary to give special attention to the junction treatment among different branches of the mesh configurations. A vector junction current approach that resulted in satisfactory solutions for the current is described. The results of numerical simulations are compared against measured data and excellent agreement is observed.

Imbriale, William A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Offset dual-shaped reflectors for dual chamber compact ranges

The application of the theory of the synthesis of offset dual-shaped reflectors to the design of compact ranges is examined. The object of the compact range is to provide a uniform plane wave with minimum amplitude and phase ripple over as large a volume as possible for a given size reflector. Ripple can be lowered by reducing the edge diffraction from the reflector producing the plane wave. This has been done either by serrating or rolling the edge. An alternative approach is to use dual offset-shaped reflector synthesis techniques to produce a reflector aperture distribution that is uniform over most of the aperture, but with a Gaussian taper near the edge. This approach can be used together with rolling and/or serration if desirable. The amount of phase and amplitude ripple obtained with two different dual-shaped reflector designs is studied as a function of position in the plane wave zone and reflector size in wavelengths. The amount of both transverse and longitudinal (z-component) cross polarization is studied.

Galindo-Israel, Victor↗

NASA NTRS1991

On the theory of the synthesis of offset dual-shaped reflectors - Case examples

In an earlier paper by Galindo-Israel et al. (1987), the geometrical optics (GO) principles, constraints, and requirements of the dual- and single-offset-shaped reflector synthesis problem were collected and developed into a set of nonlinear first-order PDEs. An extension of the methods by which solutions to the PDEs can be obtained is presented, together with several case examples. These examples are independently analyzed by GO and physical optics diffraction methods. The starting point for the integration over each reflector can be taken on the outer rim, at the center, or at an intermediate point-the intermediate starting point being the more general case. The utility of the speed of this synthesis method is demonstrated. For example, the program utilized completes a synthesis in less than 45 s on a 386/20 personal computer and within a fraction of a second on a mainframe Cray. This makes practical the incorporation of the synthesis into a search algorithm that can optimize one or more parameters of the reflector system. As an example, the optimization of the mapping equations for low cross polarization is discussed.

Galindo-Israel, Victor↗

NASA NTRS1991

Amplitude and phase-shaping effects in beamwaveguides

Results are presented of an investigation on improvements in a geometrical optics (GO) design of a beam-waveguide antenna for operation at multiple frequency bands. Improvements might be possible by changing the design of the lower-frequency input pattern to the beam waveguide. The effects of amplitude and phase shaping the input pattern have been studied with an aperture diffraction model. Accurate vector near-field computations were made rapidly with a spherical wave expansion of the input and scattered fields. Numerical results indicate that for aperture sizes of less than 30 wavelengths, there is insufficient control on defocusing due to amplitude and phase shaping. Design tradeoffs on spillover loss and defocusing are possible by changing the amplitude and phase distribution of the input wavefront for larger size apertures.

Rengarajan, Sembiam R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Inflection point caustic problems and solutions for high-gain dual-shaped reflectors

The singular nature of the uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD) subreflector scattered field at the vicinity of the main reflector edge (for a high-gain antenna design) is investigated. It is shown that the singularity in the UTD edge-diffracted and slope-diffracted fields is due to the reflection distance parameter approaching infinity in the transition functions. While the geometrical optics (GO) and UTD edge-diffracted fields exhibit singularities of the same order, the edge slope-diffracted field singularity is more significant and is substantial for greater subreflector edge tapers. The diffraction analysis of such a subreflector in the vicinity of the main reflector edge has been carried out efficiently and accurately by a stationary phase evaluation of the phi-integral, whereas the theta-integral is carried out numerically. Computational results from UTD and physical optics (PO) analysis of a 34-m ground station dual-shaped reflector confirm the analytical formulations for both circularly symmetric and offset asymmetric subreflectors. It is concluded that the proposed PO(theta)GO(phi) technique can be used to study the spillover or noise temperature characteristics of a high-gain reflector antenna efficiently and accurately.

Galindo-Israel, Victor↗

NASA NTRS1989

Interpolation solutions for the problem of synthesis of dual-shaped offset reflector antennas

Synthesis of dual-shaped offset reflector antennas to control the exit aperture distribution of amplitude and phase has received considerable attention in recent years. For a given feed illumination and desired aperture field distribution, an exact formulation of the problem of simultaneously synthesizing the shapes of the sub and main reflectors was presented recently by Galindo-Israel et al. (1987) in terms of a set of nonlinear first-order differential equations. In this paper, a numerical approach to solving these equations is discussed which circumvents some of the difficulties encountered by Galindo-Israel et al., particularly for small values of theta.

Jervase, Joseph A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Design considerations for beamwaveguide in the NASA Deep Space Network

A generalized solution is found for retrofitting a large dual-shaped reflector antenna for a beamwaveguide. The design is termed as a bypass beamwaveguide. Both highpass design feed imaging and bandpass design feed imaging are considered. Each design was studied using geometrical optics, Gaussian wave analysis, and both low-frequency and high-frequency diffraction analysis. An important extension of the Mizusawa-Kitsuregawa criteria was discovered (Zusama and Kitsuregawa, 1973). The principle revealed shows how a two-reflector cell, although in itself distorting, may be combined with a second cell which compensates for the first and delivers an output beam which is a good image of the input beam.

Veruttipong, Thavath↗

NASA NTRS1988

Interpolation methods for shaped reflector analysis

The diffraction analysis of reflector surfaces which are described only at a discrete set of locations usually leads to the requirement of an interpolation to determine the surface characteristics over a continuum of locations. Two methods of interpolation, the global and the local methods, are presented. The global interpolation representation is a closed-form or series expression valid over the entire surface. The coefficients of a series expression are found by an integration of all of the raw data. Since the number of coefficients used to describe the surface is much smaller than the number of raw data points, the integration effectively provides a smoothing of the raw data. The local interpolation provides a closed-form expression for only a small area of the reflector surface. The subreflector is divided into sectors each of which has constant discretized data. Each area segment is then locally described by a two-dimensional quadratic surface. The second derivative data give the desired smoothed values.

Galindo-Israel, Victor↗

NASA NTRS1987

On the theory of the synthesis of single and dual offset shaped reflector antennas

Two reflectors shaped so as to transforn a geometrical optics (GO) feed power pattern into a uniform amplitude and phase aperture distribution are indicated schematically. Single- and dual-shaped geometrical optics problems are solved via exact solutions obtained by progressive integration. It is concluded that an infinite set of such solutions exists.

Galindo-Israel, Victor↗

NASA NTRS1987

Low-loss offset feeds for electrically large symmetric dual-reflector antennas

Circularly symmetric, dual reflector, high gain antenna systems often require feeds placed off the system's axis because of the need for multiple feeds to use the reflector antenna. Also, the constraint requiring the hyperboloid or shaped subreflector to remain circularly symmetric is sometimes added. In a Cassegrainian system, the subreflector and feed may be rotated off axis around the paraboloid focus and retain main reflector focusing. However, substantial spillover results in considerable noise with a high gain/low noise temperature system. In a shaped system, the tilt of the shaped subreflector and feed together results in substantial defocusing as well as spillover noise. If the subreflector is tilted approximately one-half the angle of the feed tilt in either the Casegrainian or the dual shaped reflector antenna, it is found that spillover and noise are substantially reduced with tolerable defocusing. An extensive numerical analysis of these effects was conducted to determine the characteristics of a planned 70-meter, dual shaped reflector versus Cassegrainian antenna and to gain some understanding of the cause of the observed effects.

Veruttipong, Thavath↗