Optimal surface adjustment of haystack antenna

A procedure has been developed for the optimal adjustment of the primary reflector surface of an antenna. This procedure, when applied to the haystack radio telescopic antenna, involves the iterative adjustment of standoffs and shear studs, expanders, and cable guide offsets in the back of the panels. Optimal adjustments are selected to minimize the resulting surface RMS of the antenna, subject to the constraints of loss of precompression across expanders. It has been demonstrated that the procedure can be used effectively to improve the surface RMS of the haystack antenna to the goal of less than 200 micron (8 mil).

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