EFFECTS OF GAPS AMONG PANELS IN RADIO ASTRONOMY REFLECTOR ANTENNAS

Abstract

The main reflector of antennas used for radio astronomy consists of hundreds of panels among which, for various reasons, small gaps are left. In this paper, the effects of these gaps on the field scattered by the reflector are analyzed by means of a hybrid numerical technique which combines the Finite Ele-ment Method (FEM) and the Method of Moments (MoM). Numerical results pertaining to the case of an incident plane wave are presented, and the effects of the introduction of corrugations inside the gaps to minimize the power flowing through the gaps them-selves are discussed.