Measuring Antenna Elevation Mechanism Pointing Errors with Multiencoder Information Sources

There are many factors that cause pointing errors in radio telescopes. As one of the motion positioning mechanisms of the radio telescope, the error caused by the elevation mechanism cannot be ignored. The source of error in the elevation mechanism comes mainly from the key transmission components and the support structure. Accurate measurement of the errors caused by them is the key to analyzing their law of change. Aiming at the main error factors in the antenna elevation mechanism, this study builds a scaled-down experimental platform for the elevation mechanism and proposes an error measurement method based on multiencoder information sources. The method compares the error law of change of the antenna elevation mechanism under different driving modes, different centerline deviations of the bearings, and different backlashes and designs error measurement experiments for the abovementioned operating conditions. The results show that the error measurement method based on multiencoder information sources can accurately measure the error of the antenna elevation mechanism under different driving modes. The method can also accurately reflect the law of change in transmission error when the backlash of the elevation mechanism and the centerline deviation of the bearings increase. The final experimental measurement shows that the driving mode of the dual-motor can eliminate about 70% of the mechanism error caused by the backlash. The average value of the error increases by a factor of 1.9 when the backlash increases from 0.1 mm to 1.26 mm. The average value of the error increases by a factor of 5 when the centerline deviation of the bearings increases from 0 to 1.5 mm. This has a good reference value to correct for the pointing error of a radio telescope.