Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Williams, W. F..
Distorted antenna surfaces forced to produce a uniform wave front. SUBFORMING employs geometric optics in determining subreflector coordinates to match main reflector surface with known distortions. Antenna with distorted paraboloidal reflecting surface forced to produce uniform wave front by using a Cassegrainian geometry with path-length-compensating subreflector. Program written in FORTRAN V for batch execution.
Using a Cassegrainian geometry, the 64-meter antenna with its distorted paraboloidal reflecting surface is forced to produce a uniform phase wavefront by a pathlength-compensating subreflector. First, the computed distortion vectors at the joints or nodes of the main reflector structure supporting the surface panels are best fitted to a paraboloid. Second, the resulting residual distortion errors are used to determine a compensating subreflector surface by ray tracing using geometric optics principles. Third, the totally corrected subreflector surface is defined by the normal directions and distances to the surface of the original symmetric hyperboloid for the purpose of evaluation. Finally, contour maps of distortions of the paraboloid reflector and the compensating subreflector are presented. A field-measured check of the subreflector in focused position as computed by the described methodology is also presented for the antenna position at horizon look with the geometry at 45 degrees elevation.
The Networks Consolidation Program (NCP) will utilize 34-meter shaped dual-reflector Cassegrain antennas. The shaping calculations, the X/S-band feedhorn to be used, and the predicted RF performance of this antenna system are discussed.
Williams and Withington (1979) have considered a prototype X-S-band feedhorn which enabled simultaneous X- and S-band reception from a Cassegrain antenna. This feedhorn has quite successfully demonstrated an alternate method to the standard Deep Space Network (DSN) system of multiple subreflectors and dichroic plate for dual-band reception. In connection with a Network Consolidation Program, involving centralized control of existing antennas and construction of new reflector antennas, a second-generation feedhorn/combiner was conceived to show that this common-aperture feedhorn system was capable of performing all necessary functions the DSN would be called upon to perform with existing and future X-S-band spacecraft. Attention is given to the feedhorn concept, the combiner concept, the first and the second generation of the horn, Sand X-band tuning, and planned capabilities. The feedhorn greatly extends the state of the art in DSN performance and will enhance DSN capabilities in the future.
A corrugated horn antenna, adapted to be coupled to a waveguide at its apex for X-band excitation is further adapted to be connected to waveguides through a circumferential slot for S-band excitation at four distinct phases selected for the desired S-band polarization. The circumferential slot is positioned along the axial length of the horn for good impedance matching and is provided with an X-band choke in the form of two concentric choke slots. For further improvement in impedance matching, the second (outer) choke slot is divided by plugs into four segments that coincide with waveguide ports for the four distinct phases of the S-band.
A combiner was designed and fabricated for injecting X- and S-band into a horn for use at various DSN sites. Results indicate that the S-band combiner is much too narrow for use in both receiving and transmitting and that the horn patterns, when scattered, yield an improved efficiency over the present horn-hyperbola system. Predicted performance at DSS 13 by the calculated scattering of the model radiation patterns from the DSS 13 hyperbola is also discussed.
The RF performance is studied for large reflector antenna systems (100 meters) when using the high efficiency dual shaped reflector approach. An altered phase was considered so that the scattered field from a shaped surface could be used in the JPL efficiency program. A new dual band (X-S) microwave feed horn was used in the shaping calculations. A great many shaping calculations were made for various horn sizes and locations and final RF efficiencies are reported. A conclusion is reached that when using the new dual band horn, shaping should probably be performed using the pattern of the lower frequency
A receiving system for automatically selecting a desired one of two approximately orthogonally polarized signals occupying the same bandwidth, is described. Received signals are provided by any orthomode antenna system at a pair of output ports, i.e., right hand and left hand circular polarizations or two linear polarizations. The received signals are then applied to the inputs of a hybrid junction to produce sum and difference signals. The resulting sum signal at one output port comprises components of the undesired one of two orthogonally polarized signals and is used to coherently detect and dynamically balance out the undesired signal components that are included at the difference signal port. The desired one of two orthogonally polarized signals is thereby provided at the difference port of the hybrid junction. Feedback loops are used to effect dynamic balancing.
System is polarization tracker and comprises variable polarizer, polarization control, and receiver servo loop. System simultaneously receives desired signal and undesired signal which are approximately orthogonal. They can be either paired as left and right circular polarizations or as cross-linear polarizations.
Any electromagnetic field - e.g., a contoured antenna pattern may be expanded into a sum of spherical waves, similar to a one-dimensional Fourier expansion. This expanded wave could then be scattered from a source reflector to determine a resulting required feed field in the vicinity of the focal region. This is of questionable value, and the more significant information to produce would be the required feed pattern itself. Hence the required contour pattern is instead scattered from the back of the reflector, and the result is the required feed pattern with origin at the focus of the chosen reflector.
A technique is described for reducing near-in sidelobes in spacecraft antennas by cancellation. This technique takes a small portion of the radiation from the antenna aperture and generates the near-in lobes, which are then fed out of phase relative to the main signal. Results of sample cases indicate that the first three lobes can be nearly eliminated at a 40% reduction in aperture efficiency.