Abstract :
The JPL beam-waveguide (BWG) antennas are used for spacecraft tracking and for radio-astronomy observations. They are mounted on wheels that rotate around an uneven azimuth track, causing antenna deformations, and reducing pointing accuracy. The pointing errors affected by the track irregularities are repeatable, and can therefore be calibrated. The effects of the irregularities of the track can continually be corrected by using a lookup table, created by the interface presented. This paper is a continuation of previous work of Gawronski, Baher and Quintero (see ibid., vol.42, no.2, p.28-38, 2000). It describes the processing the inclinometer data, which includes the verification of repeatability, smoothing, slow-trend removal, re-sampling, and adjustment to a standard format. it also presents a user-friendly interface that process field data and creates a lookup table for pointing-error correction by clicking appropriate buttons on a computer screen. The GUI was tested with the JPL BWG antennas, and may be used with any antennas utilizing an azimuth track.
Keywords :
antenna testing; calibration; electrical engineering computing; error correction; graphical user interfaces; radioastronomical techniques; satellite tracking; table lookup; waveguide antennas; GUI; JPL; antenna deformations; azimuth-track level-pointing-error corrections; beam-waveguide antennas; calibration; field data processing; inclinometer data processing; lookup table; pointing accuracy; pointing errors; radio-astronomy observations; repeatability verification; resampling; slow-trend removal; smoothing; spacecraft tracking; track irregularities; user-friendly interface; Antenna measurements; Azimuth; Decision support systems; Graphical user interfaces; Position measurement; Satellite antennas; Space technology; Space vehicles; Table lookup; Wheels;
