Limitations on reflector antenna gain by random surface errors, pointing errors, and the angle-of-arrival jitter

The effects of random surface, pointing, and angle-of-arrival errors on the antenna gain are discussed. It is shown that for manufacturing tolerance ratios greater than 10⁵, the random surface errors decrease the antenna gain only when D/λ>3000. The pointing/angle-of-arrival error causes nonnegligible loss in gain when it exceeds approximately a few tenths of the antenna beamwidth. The gain (and the size) of very large reflector antennas is generally limited by the combined effects of the above errors