Abstract

Over the last decade, large-scale antennas have been developed to enhance precise blue force tracking and improve situational awareness. In general, such large-scale antennas, ranging from 1 to up to 10 m, need a specific mechanism that can reconfigure their shapes and morphologies, resulting in stowing and deploying upon the given environment. In parallel, it must be noted that such deployable mechanisms should accommodate a large aperture diameter while ensuring they are lightweight, robust, and structurally rigid to avoid undesired deformations due to the deployment. With these in mind, this work presents a large frustum-shaped deployable antenna mechanism with a large aperture diameter of 7.5 m. The deployable mechanism is composed of hierarchical bayes the radial direction at 30° intervals. Twelve bayes in total identify the overall morphology of the deployable antenna, which features a dodecagon. Specifically, the bay is composed of three linkage structures: a six-bar linkage mechanism, a V-folding mechanism, and a single pantograph mechanism. As a result of static and dynamic simulations, it is identified that the mechanism achieves an area-to-mass ratio of 5.003 m2/kg and a safety factor of 323.8 upon deployment. Conclusively, this work demonstrates a strong potential of the deployable antenna mechanism, providing high rigidity and large aperture diameter while ensuring high stability in space environments.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.