A Multi-Purpose Large Compact Range for Antenna, Spacecraft Payload, and RCS Measurements
Authors: John R. Jones, C. Lee Allen, and Ed Hart, Juan-Luis Cano, Pablo Garcia-Mueller
Publication: AMTA 1995
Copyright Owner: NSI-MI Technologies
Compact ranges have found wide application for antenna measurements, RCS measurements, and, most recently, for spacecraft payload measurements. Each of these applications requires certain special features of the range optics, positioning systems, electronics, and software. The system design of a compact range measurement system for making all these types of measurements presents a number of challenges.
This paper will discuss the system aspects of the design of a multi-purpose compact range facility. Items of interest include the RF electronics design, the positioning system design, the optimization of the reflector and feeds and the specialized software design.