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Offset pointing in de-yawed phased-array spacecraft antenna

  • US 6,567,040 B1
  • Filed: 02/23/2000
  • Issued: 05/20/2003
  • Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2000
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A system for controlling offset pointing of a plurality of antenna array elements mounted to a spacecraft comprising:

  • a beam controller connected to the array of antenna elements for controlling a radiation pattern for each element;

    an on-board processor coupled to the beam controller and a control signal receiver;

    at least one ground control station comprising a processor programmed to collect data regarding position of the spacecraft relative to a desired reference frame and to generate a set of control parameters based on the collected position data, and a transmitter for uplinking the set of generated control parameters to the control signal receiver on-board the spacecraft, wherein the control processor is programmed to generate control signals for controlling the beam controller to electronically steer the radiation pattern for each of the plurality of antenna array elements based on the uplinked set of control parameters, the set of control parameters being generated by the ground station processor as a function of antenna element spot beam unit vector components in an orbit normal coordinate frame and measured pitch and roll offset angles.

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