A Practical Approach to Evaluate the Effects of Machining Errors on the Electrical Performance of Reflector Antennas Based on Paneled Forms

A novel and practical approach to determine the effects of machining errors on the electrical performance of large reflector antennas is presented. The proposed approach is based on the practical paneled forms of reflector surface and a sum of ideal radiation power in the absence of errors and error power contributed by the manufacturing inaccuracies. The error field of each panel is expressed using first Taylor expansion, and then the Gaussian correlation function of phase errors is employed to perform the quadruple numerical integration of average power radiated from a single panel. Detailed parametric simulations are performed based on a 35-m reflector antenna, and the results clearly demonstrate how the average power is changed with machining errors and error correlation interval.