Researchers at the University of Arizona have developed a technology for precision radio telescope panel fabrication involving an adjustable mold-based thermoforming process. The motivation, technology, and experimental results will be presented.
University of Arizona scientists have developed an efficient method of thermoforming panels for millimeter wave freeform antenna applications. We’ve implemented stereo fringe projection metrology to characterize these panels to 40µm RMS accuracy.
State of the art millimeter wave telescope panels require surface treatment to control reflective solar radiation scattering. Here we compare different treatment regimes using metrology, simulation, and experimentation to identify optimal processes.
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