Citation
Abstract
This article examines the effect on performance of tracking measurements made using an array-based Deep Space Network (DSN), where the receiving system consists of an array of small antennas instead of a single large dish having equivalent A/T, where A is the effective collecting area for the array signal or a large single dish and T is the system temperature. It describes phasing antennas for generating an array signal to make tracking measurements and then considers various sources of errors affecting the phase of the array signal and how these errors differ from those of a single dish. An examination of each item of single-dish tracking error budgets (range, Doppler, and angular position) shows that for typical tracking applications arraying has very little effect on the phase of the array signal when compared with the signal from a single dish having the same A/T, and therefore arraying has negligible effect on tracking performance as compared with a single dish.
Details
- Volume
- 42-172
- Published
- February 15, 2008
- Pages
- 1–9
- File Size
- 120.0 KB