The design of a novel two-dimensional deployable mechanism for large-aperture planar antennas

Abstract

Large-aperture planar antennas are essential in applications like satellite communication and Earth observation. In order to accommodate them within the constrained storage space of rockets during launch, the development of high-folding-ratio mechanisms becomes imperative. However, most of the existing planar antennas rely on one-dimensional deployable mechanisms, limiting their width and impeding the development of planar antennas with larger apertures. The lack of two-dimensional deployable planar antennas is primarily due to their stringent requirements, including the need for flat reflecting surfaces, regular panel shapes to accommodate electronic devices on the panels’ rear sides and minimal inter-panel gaps. In this paper, we introduce a novel two-dimensional deployable mechanism for the development of large-aperture planar antennas, capable of simultaneously meeting these requirements. Firstly, the architecture of the proposed mechanism and its two-step deployment procedure are described; next, the kinematics on the displacement level are conducted; moreover, a case study is presented to demonstrate its folding performance and frequency response. These studies indicate that the antenna thus obtained can achieve efficient two-dimensional folding while offering a reasonable frequency response, which can be a practical solution for the development of large-aperture planar antennas.