Surface deformation recovery algorithm for reflector antennas based on geometric optics.

Surface deformations of large reflector antennas highly depend on elevation angle. This paper adopted a scheme with the ability to conduct measurement at any elevation angle: carrying an emission source, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) scans the antenna on a near-field plane, meanwhile the antenna stays stationary. Near-field amplitude is measured in the scheme. To recover the deformation from the measured amplitude, this paper proposed a novel algorithm by deriving the deformation-amplitude equation, which reveals the relation between the surface deformation and the near-field amplitude. By the algorithm, a precise deformation recovery can be reached at a low frequency (<1GHz) through single near-field amplitude. Simulation results showed the high accuracy and adaptability of the algorithm.