Application of Active Optical System for Estimation of the Wide-Aperture Antenna Profile

The paper presents the research experiment on deformations measurement of a wide-aperture antenna by the lidar system and the technique of data processing for the reconstruction of the reflective surface profile. The surface profile recovery algorithm of the antenna under investigation is described. Measurement of the reflector surface is performed with the help of a portable lidar system. 3D point cloud reconstruction and separation of the antenna surface coordinates are discussed. The reference surface is reconstructed at the base of a proposed mathematical model in order to evaluate the main antenna design parameters The mathematical model processes three-dimensional antenna surface coordinates extracted from a total cloud of lidar system scanning points. The objects of study were two mesh wide-aperture X and S-band antennas. The surface shape, symmetry error, and method performance of the investigated antenna was determined.