The Paraboloidal Reflector Antenna in Radio Astronomy and Communication (eBook)

After a three year stint at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in the sixties, where the basis for the book was already laid, he participated in the design, construction, commissioning and operation of the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. Upon moving to the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie in Bonn in 1975, Baars was project manager for two highly successful millimeter wave radio telescopes – the IRAM mm-telescope on Pico Veleta, Spain and the Heinrich Hertz Telescope on Mt. Graham, Arizona, USA. Since 1999.  He has been with the European Southern Observatory in Garching, participating with different tasks in the ALMA Project, in particular the evaluation of two prototype submillimeter radio telescopes.

Dedication 6
Preface 8
List of Figures and Tables 14
Definition of Symbols 18
1. Introduction and historical development 19
1.1. Some history of the parabolic reflector antenna 19
1.2. Measuring antenna parameters with cosmic radio sources 27
2. Geometry of reflector antennas 32
2.1. Geometrical relations of the dual reflector system 32
2.2. Geometry of aberrations 39
2.3. The Mathematica Routines 47
3. Electromagnetic theory of the reflector antenna 49
3.1. Basic theory - Maxwell's equations 49
3.2. The primary source and surface current density 52
3.3. Surface current integration 53
3.4. Aperture integration, Kirchhoff-Helmholtz diffraction 57
3.5. The farfield approximation (Fraunhofer region) 59
3.6. The nearfield approximation (Fresnel region) 64
3.7 The Fourier Transformation relationship 68
3.8. Relation between farfield and focal region field 70
3.9. The Mathematica Routines 70
4. Antenna characteristics in practical applications 73
4.1. Introduction 73
4.2. Illumination efficiency, beam width, sidelobe level 75
4.3. Axial defocus 84
4.4. Lateral defocus - Coma, Beam-Deviation-Factor 92
4.5. Aperture blocking 100
4.6. Reflector shape deviations - "surface tolerance theory" 105
4.7. The Mathematica Routines 114
5. Measurement of antenna parameters 127
5.1. Global antenna parameters 127
5.2. Response of an antenna to a source distributed in space 130
5.3. Efficiencies and Corrections for finite source size 132
5.4. Sidelobe level and error pattern 142
5.5. Pointing and focus corrections and optimisation 148
5.6. Pointing and surface error calculation from Finite Element Analysis ( FEA) 156
5.7. Antenna gain and radio source flux calibration 159
5.8. The Mathematica routines 164
Comparison of gaussian and lambda function representation of the antenna beam . [ Mat. 5.3] 165
6. Miscellaneous subjects 170
6.1. Holographic measurement of reflector surface contour 170
6.2. Far sidelobes, Gain calibration 186
6.3. Chromatism, Off-set aperture 191
6.4. Atmospheric fluctuations and dual-beam observing 196
6.5. The Mathematica routines 213
7. Design features of some radio telescopes 219
7.1. Introduction 219
7.2. The homologous design method 221
7.3. The Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) 225
7.4. The Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope 231
7.5. The IRAM 30-m Millimeter Radio Telescope (MRT) 236
7.6. The Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope (HHT) 243
7.7. The Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT) 247
7.8. The ALMA Prototype Antennas 253
7.9. Conclusion 260