Parabolic deployable antenna

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10170843-B2
Application number	US-201615167703-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 27, 2016
Priority date	May 29, 2015
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

A deployable antenna is described. The antenna comprises a mesh attached to foldable ribs, a hub and a sub-reflector. The antenna can be stowed in a tight space for launching in space, and later deployed by extending out of its container. The antenna is designed to work in the Ka band or other bands and can increase data rates and function as a radio antenna.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A deployable antenna comprising:
a container;
a deployment mechanism attached to the container;
a hub within the container, configured to deploy along a longitudinal axis of the container upon activation of the deployment mechanism;
a plurality of root ribs attached to the hub and configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a plurality of tip ribs, each tip rib attached to a corresponding root rib by a rotating hinge, the plurality of tip ribs configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a mesh attached to the plurality of root and tip ribs;
a horn attached to the hub, the horn extending along the longitudinal axis and located centrally to the mesh;
a sub-reflector attached to the horn and configured to extend away from the horn along the longitudinal axis upon deployment; and
a waveguide attached to the hub, the waveguide being configured to fit within the horn before deployment and to remain in its pre-deployment location while the hub and the horn are extended away along the longitudinal axis upon deployment,
wherein:
the mesh, horn, root ribs, tip ribs and sub-reflector are configured to operate between 2 and 50 GHz,
and
the deployable antenna is a Cassegrain antenna optimized to operate at 35.75 GHz with a bandwidth of 20 MHz.

2. The deployable antenna of claim 1 , wherein the container is a cylindrical container and has a volume smaller than 10×10×16.2 cm 3 .

3. A deployable antenna comprising:
a container;
a deployment mechanism attached to the container;
a hub within the container, configured to deploy along a longitudinal axis of the container upon activation of the deployment mechanism;
a plurality of root ribs attached to the hub and configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a plurality of tip ribs, each tip rib attached to a corresponding root rib by a rotating hinge, the plurality of tip ribs configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a mesh attached to the plurality of root and tip ribs;
a horn attached to the hub, the horn extending along the longitudinal axis and located centrally to the mesh; and
a sub-reflector attached to the horn and configured to extend away from the horn along the longitudinal axis upon deployment,
wherein the mesh, horn, root ribs, tip ribs and sub-reflector are configured to operate between 2 and 50 GHz,
wherein the deployment mechanism comprises a cool gas generator attached to a piston, the piston being attached to the hub and configured to push the hub upon activation of the cool gas generator.

4. A deployable antenna comprising:
a container;
a deployment mechanism attached to the container;
a hub within the container, configured to deploy along a longitudinal axis of the container upon activation of the deployment mechanism;
a plurality of root ribs attached to the hub and configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a plurality of tip ribs, each tip rib attached to a corresponding root rib by a rotating hinge, the plurality of tip ribs configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a mesh attached to the plurality of root and tip ribs;
a horn attached to the hub, the horn extending along the longitudinal axis and located centrally to the mesh; and
a sub-reflector attached to the horn and configured to extend away from the horn along the longitudinal axis upon deployment,
wherein the mesh, horn, root ribs, tip ribs and sub-reflector are configured to operate between 2 and 50 GHz,
wherein the deployment mechanism comprises a plurality of motorized screws.

5. The deployable antenna of claim 1 , wherein a diameter of the deployed antenna is 0.5 m.

6. The deployable antenna of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of root ribs comprises latches to lock onto an outer edge of the container upon deployment.

7. The deployable antenna of claim 1 , wherein the mesh is a 40 openings-per-inch mesh knitted from 0.0008″ diameter gold plated Tungsten wire.

8. The deployable antenna of claim 4 , further comprising a sun synchronizing gear configured for one motor to drive deployment while the plurality of motorized screws operates synchronously.

9. The deployable antenna of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of motorized screws is configured to operate as a launch lock.

10. A method comprising:
providing a deployable antenna, the deployable antenna comprising:
a container;
a deployment mechanism attached to the container;
a hub within the container, configured to deploy along a longitudinal axis of the container upon activation of the deployment mechanism;
a plurality of root ribs attached to the hub and configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a plurality of tip ribs, each tip rib attached to a corresponding root rib by a rotating hinge, the plurality of tip ribs configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a mesh attached to the plurality of root and tip ribs;
a horn attached to the hub, the horn extending along the longitudinal axis and located centrally to the mesh; and
a sub-reflector attached to the horn and configured to extend away from the horn along the longitudinal axis upon deployment; and
a waveguide attached to the hub, the waveguide being configured to fit within the horn before deployment and to remain in its pre-deployment location while the hub and the horn are extended away along the longitudinal axis upon deployment,
wherein:
the mesh, horn, root ribs, tip ribs and sub-reflector are configured to operate between 2 and 50 GHz,
the deployable antenna is a Cassegrain antenna optimized to operate at 35. 75 GHz with a bandwidth of 20 MHz;

activating the deployment mechanism, thereby deploying the hub along a longitudinal axis of the container;
rotating the root and tip ribs away from the longitudinal axis; and
extending the horn and sub-reflector along the longitudinal axis.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the container is a cylindrical container and has a volume smaller than 10×10×16.2 cm 3 .

12. A method comprising:
providing a deployable antenna, the deployable antenna comprising:
a container;
a deployment mechanism attached to the container;
a hub within the container, configured to deploy along a longitudinal axis of the container upon activation of the deployment mechanism;
a plurality of root ribs attached to the hub and configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a plurality of tip ribs, each tip rib attached to a corresponding root rib by a rotating hinge, the plurality of tip ribs configured to rotate away from the longitudinal axis upon deployment;
a mesh attached to the plurality of root and tip ribs;
a horn attached to the hub, the horn extending along the longitudinal axis and located centrally to the mesh; and
a sub-reflector attached to the horn and configured to extend away from the horn along the longitudinal axis upon deployment,
wherein the mesh, horn, root ribs, tip ribs and sub-reflector are configured to operate between 2 and 50 GHz;

activating the deployment mechanism, thereby deploying the hub along a longitudinal axis of the container;
rotating the root and tip ribs away from the longitudinal axis; and
extending the horn and sub-reflector along the longitudinal axis,
wherein the deployment mechanism comprises a cool gas generator attached to a piston, the piston being attached to the hub and configured to push the hub upon activation of the cool gas generator.

13. A method comprising:
providing a deployable antenna, the deployable antenna compr

Assignees

• California Inst Of Techn

Inventors

• Thomson Mark W
• Hodges Richard E
• Chahat Nacer E
• SAUDER Jonathan
• Rahmat-Samii Yahya
• Hirsh Brian

Classifications

• H01Q19/132

  Horn reflector antennas; Off-set feeding · CPC title

• H01Q15/162

  composed of a plurality of rigid panels · CPC title

• H01Q19/19 Primary

  comprising one main concave reflecting surface associated with an auxiliary reflecting surface · CPC title

• H01Q13/02

  Waveguide horns · CPC title

• H01Q1/288

  Satellite antennas · CPC title