Modal control of reflector surfaces for far-field power maximization

Recent studies have shown that reflector surface adaptation can achieve performance characteristics on the order of phase array antennas without the complexity. The work presented in this dissertation examines the effect that varying the shape of a reflector surface has on the associated far field power. Inherent in this study is the development of algorithms for the maximization of far field power.

The shape of a cylindrical reflector and a corner reflector were controlled by a modal autofocus algorithm which deformed the surfaces sequentially into the full range of its modal amplitudes. The convergence time of the cylindrical reflector was shown to depend on the scan time associated with a natural mode of vibration, the number of cycles the algorithm underwent before convergence, and the desired resolution of the surface. The corner reflector was shown to converge in one cycle by varying the direction mode and corner angle mode. The modal autofocus method was verified in a physical experiment along with complimentary numerical predictions.