Adjustability analysis and experiment for mesh antenna

Mesh antenna plays an important role in the field of space communication. Surface accuracy is the key factor to determine the electrical performance of mesh antenna, which needs to be ensured by surface adjustment. Because the mesh antenna has variable stiffness and great flexibility, the surface may be 'non-adjustable' within the limited range of the adjustment device, in the sense that it is not possible to further improve the surface accuracy by surface adjustment. In order to directly describe the adjustment state of the surface through the structure parameters of the mesh antenna, a method of calculating the surface adjustability is proposed to quantitatively describe the degree of further adjustment of the surface. Three parameters which affect the adjustability are put forward: the adjustment force margin parameter, the adjustment amount margin parameter and the accuracy adjustable parameter. The adjustment balance equations for mesh antenna surface are established, and the relationship between surface structure parameters and influence parameters is deduced. The method of calculating the adjustability of surface by influencing parameters is given. The experimental results show that the surface adjustability can not only accurately reflect the adjustment state of the surface, but also guide the selection of the adjustment configuration, which can effectively improve the surface accuracy compared with the traditional method.