A Planar Positioning System for Antennas

We designed and built a low budget planar positioning system for antennas for applications such as through-wall imaging. Key constraints were: a budget under $700, minimize vibrations due to moving parts, reliability, accuracy, size, producibility, and simplicity. The positioning system will be referred to as the structure. The structure consists of a horizontal and a vertical axis, which is fabricated from aluminum extrusions as main supports. Analysis shows that for this budget aluminum is an excellent option for the physical build, because of its light weight, durability, and low cost.