抄録
To realize the future advanced satellite communication system, a new design methodology for light-weight, huge-scale antenna reflector structures is investigated. The reflector structure consists of a metal mesh surface, a cable network structure (a system of cables) and a deployable frame stricture. The cable network structure forms the mesh surface into a parabolic shape. High-rigidity cables are employed as "the tension truss structure" to form a precise surface shape. Two important design issues, the cable rigidity and the surface edge shape, were considered in this paper. Relatively large deformation is allowed to the supporting frame structure. Thus a homologous design method was applied to design the supporting structure. As a result of the optimization procedure using a FEM model, the weight of the supporting structure can be effectively reduced. In addition, by constructing hierarchical module structures, the modular structures can show a self-similarity. We are expecting to obtain structural characteristics of a whole huge structure by testing a few basic modules. This scalable design methodology can expand the proposed light-weight design for a basic module to a huge scale antenna reflector structure. Effects of the hierarchical modules design were shown comparing an existing modular structure.
