Panel adjustment error of large reflector antennas considering electromechanical coupling

The errors associated with a segmented primary reflector limit the electrical performance obtainable with those antennas which employ them. It is necessary to derive the effects of panel adjustment error on electtonical performance in order to determine realistic error budgets for such antennas. From the point of electromechanical coupling, an approximate expression for ETM (error transformation matrix) between panel adjustment errors and aperture errors is derived. It is found by numerical simulation that the results may be applied to antennas with realistic panel schemes for prediction of their electrical performance and panel adjustment.