Stabilization Control of line of sight of OTM(On-The-Move) Antenna

Abstract

The 4-th generation of mobile communication aims to realize global, fast and mobile communication service. The satellite communication charges a key role in this field. In this study, an OTM(On-The-Move) antenna which is mounted on ground vehicles and is used for mobile communication between vehicle and satellite was addressed. Since vehicles move during communication, active antenna line-of-sight stabilization is a core technology to guarantee high satellite communication quality. Stabilization of a satellite tracking antenna which consists of 2-DOF gimbals, an elevation gimbal over an azimuth gimbal, was considered in this study. Various disturbance torques such as static and dynamic mass imbalance torques, variation of moment of inertia according to elevation angle, friction torque related to vehicle motion, equivalent disturbance torque due to antenna roll motion, etc. were analyzed. As a robust stabilization control, rate feedback with sliding mode control and position feedback with proportional+integral control was suggested. To compensate antenna roll motion, a supplementary roll rate feed forward control was included beside of the feedback control loop. The feasibility of the analysis and the proposed control design were verified along with some simulation results.