Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable Actuators

Shape adjustment of large planar phased array antennas is significant because the shape distortion of phased arrays can greatly reduce the antenna’s gain in the observing direction. This study selects the inherent diagonal cables driven by motors as actuators, initially used to improve the stiffness...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jiyang Zhou, Xiang Liu, Guoping Cai, Jun Sun, Dongfang Zhu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-01-01
Series:International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/ijae/9915394
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850041577287712768
author Jiyang Zhou
Xiang Liu
Guoping Cai
Jun Sun
Dongfang Zhu
author_facet Jiyang Zhou
Xiang Liu
Guoping Cai
Jun Sun
Dongfang Zhu
author_sort Jiyang Zhou
collection DOAJ
description Shape adjustment of large planar phased array antennas is significant because the shape distortion of phased arrays can greatly reduce the antenna’s gain in the observing direction. This study selects the inherent diagonal cables driven by motors as actuators, initially used to improve the stiffness of the antenna structure. The shape adjustment can be implemented by changing the length of the diagonal cables, so that there is no need to design additional control devices, which can significantly reduce the mass and improve the reliability of the antenna system. For shape adjustment, the cable tensions are chosen as the control inputs in general, but for structures with finite deformations, the cable tensions may be strongly coupled and therefore can no longer be used as the control inputs. We examine all the sources of the elongation of the cable actuator and group them into three categories: pre-elongation, passive elongation, and feedback elongation. Since the feedback elongations of different cables are driven independently by the motors and do not change with the structural deformation, they can be used as the control inputs. Giving a detailed theoretical derivation, this paper demonstrates the necessity of considering nonlinearity of the cable actuator and proposes a nonlinear model of the active cable element. Further, an optimization model is established for shape adjustment, and the genetic algorithm is used to solve this problem. The effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear active cable element and the shape adjustment method is validated by simulations. Results show that the shape adjustment can be successfully achieved by the nonlinear cable actuators proposed in this paper. Moreover, the effect of pre-elongation on the stiffness of the antenna structure can be well reflected by the nonlinear cable actuators, and the relationship between the shape adjustment and the number of actuators is also investigated.
format Article
id doaj-art-366994846941477e82ed7fe1d643439f
institution DOAJ
issn 1687-5974
language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
spelling doaj-art-366994846941477e82ed7fe1d643439f2025-08-20T02:55:45ZengWileyInternational Journal of Aerospace Engineering1687-59742024-01-01202410.1155/ijae/9915394Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable ActuatorsJiyang Zhou0Xiang Liu1Guoping Cai2Jun Sun3Dongfang Zhu4Department of Engineering MechanicsDepartment of Engineering MechanicsDepartment of Engineering MechanicsShanghai Aerospace Control Technology InstituteShanghai Aerospace Control Technology InstituteShape adjustment of large planar phased array antennas is significant because the shape distortion of phased arrays can greatly reduce the antenna’s gain in the observing direction. This study selects the inherent diagonal cables driven by motors as actuators, initially used to improve the stiffness of the antenna structure. The shape adjustment can be implemented by changing the length of the diagonal cables, so that there is no need to design additional control devices, which can significantly reduce the mass and improve the reliability of the antenna system. For shape adjustment, the cable tensions are chosen as the control inputs in general, but for structures with finite deformations, the cable tensions may be strongly coupled and therefore can no longer be used as the control inputs. We examine all the sources of the elongation of the cable actuator and group them into three categories: pre-elongation, passive elongation, and feedback elongation. Since the feedback elongations of different cables are driven independently by the motors and do not change with the structural deformation, they can be used as the control inputs. Giving a detailed theoretical derivation, this paper demonstrates the necessity of considering nonlinearity of the cable actuator and proposes a nonlinear model of the active cable element. Further, an optimization model is established for shape adjustment, and the genetic algorithm is used to solve this problem. The effectiveness of the proposed nonlinear active cable element and the shape adjustment method is validated by simulations. Results show that the shape adjustment can be successfully achieved by the nonlinear cable actuators proposed in this paper. Moreover, the effect of pre-elongation on the stiffness of the antenna structure can be well reflected by the nonlinear cable actuators, and the relationship between the shape adjustment and the number of actuators is also investigated.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/ijae/9915394
spellingShingle Jiyang Zhou
Xiang Liu
Guoping Cai
Jun Sun
Dongfang Zhu
Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable Actuators
International Journal of Aerospace Engineering
title Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable Actuators
title_full Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable Actuators
title_fullStr Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable Actuators
title_full_unstemmed Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable Actuators
title_short Shape Adjustment of a Large Planar Phased Array Antenna With Nonlinear Cable Actuators
title_sort shape adjustment of a large planar phased array antenna with nonlinear cable actuators
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/ijae/9915394
work_keys_str_mv AT jiyangzhou shapeadjustmentofalargeplanarphasedarrayantennawithnonlinearcableactuators
AT xiangliu shapeadjustmentofalargeplanarphasedarrayantennawithnonlinearcableactuators
AT guopingcai shapeadjustmentofalargeplanarphasedarrayantennawithnonlinearcableactuators
AT junsun shapeadjustmentofalargeplanarphasedarrayantennawithnonlinearcableactuators
AT dongfangzhu shapeadjustmentofalargeplanarphasedarrayantennawithnonlinearcableactuators