Aalto University

ELEC-E8002 Project work course

Year 2016

Project document

Project #14
Antenna stabilizer and tracking

Date: 19.12.2016

Sundin Juho, 79065H

Karvinen Atro, 348940
Heinonen Ville, 294939
Luukkaa Janne, 225979
Kilpeläinen Jaakko, 465221
Information page

Students

Sundin Juho
Karvinen Atro
Heinonen Ville
Luukkaa Janne
Kilpeläinen Jaakko

Project manager

Sundin Juho

Official instructor

Eskelinen Pekka

Other advisors

Starting date

20.3.2016

Approval

The instructor has accepted the final version of this document

Date: xx.xx.2016
Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. System overview

3. System design
3.1 Mechanical design
3.1.1 Shape and materials
3.1.2 Rotation
3.1.3 Wiring to rotational structure
3.2 Control instrumentation
3.3 Control software

4. Modelling and verification of the system

4.1 Simulation of system
4.2 Verification

5. Conclusion

Appendices
1. Introduction

This document presents a project to design an antenna stabilizer system with tracking
capabilities. The system should be able to precisely aim the antenna at a moving target or
scan the horizon when no target is present. The platform would be located on a moving
vehicle, such as a boat or a land vehicle, and the movement of the vehicle needs to be taken
into account in the stabilization task.

The main method in succeeding in this project goal is to create a simulation of the desired
system, because other sources of information were very limited. From this simulation we
gain necessary information to design the system.

First an overview of project is given in which architecture and system structure are briefly
explained. After the overview a detailed explanation of system design is given. This section
includes what mechanical design choices were made, how control is implemented and what
kind of instrumentation is used. Control software is also presented in this section.

Modelling and verification of the system -section describes how system is modelled in
Matlab Simulink and what results were obtained from the simulations. This section also
includes a separate section for proving that the presented antenna system is suitable for
intended purposes.

In part Conclusion we discuss how the project succeeded. We will explain how the original
plan was modified during the project, what risks realised and how we coped with them, and
what unexpected problems we had. Project communication, meetings and other practices
are also discussed. We end the part by stating what we learned of the project and what we
would do differently in the future projects of this type.

During the project we succeeded in creating a design for the defined antenna system and
building a simulation of the system. In the end we had to create quite extensive simulation to
get all necessary information about the system to be designed. The system design is made
up to a point where the next step is to start building the first prototype to get feedback about
what we need next.
2. System overview

Fig. 2.1: Antenna platform system.

Our design for the antenna tracker and stabilizer system consists of an antenna platform
with two degrees of freedom. The platform system is used to point the antenna at a target or,
when no target is present, to scan the horizon. The platform consists of two main parts: the
base and the pedestal. The base is mounted on a vehicle and it supports the antenna
pedestal that can be turned around a vertical axis in reference to the base. The pedestal has
two beams, between which the antenna itself is located. The antenna can be turned around
a horizontal axis in reference to the pedestal. This design is explained further in part three of
this document.

The base houses the motors for rotating the pedestal, and the pedestal the motors for
turning the antenna. Both the pedestal and the antenna angle are measured with angle
measurement sensors, and the movement of the base (and vehicle) are measured with
gyros and acceleration sensors. The system is controlled with a computer that is located in
the platform base.

The simulation model consists of a simulink model that includes the controller part of the
system. The system consists of two subsystems that take care of the tracking and stabilizing
tasks of the model. The control system takes care of the stabilization and tracking of moving
objects, it uses simple PD controller. Also included is a visualization component mostly to
show how the system works.
3. System design

3.1 Mechanical design

3.1.1 Shape and materials

Fig. 3.1: CAD-drawing front.

The basis of the design is 65 cm width, 45 cm height and 15 cm depth rectangular prism
(antenna), which is fully made of 0.5 cm thick aluminum and weighs approximately 12 kg.
Antenna and pedestal is attached to support beams from both sides with stainless steel
screws to help system’s maintenance. Beams, pedestal and base structures are made of 0.5
cm thick stainless steel so that the system’s durability is maximized and weight of the hollow
objects is not a problem. Thermal expansion does not have major impact to system’s
durability, because lengths are short and coefficients of linear thermal expansion variables
(Aluminum 23 and Stainless Steel 16) are similar.
Fig. 3.2 CAD-drawings side.

Fig. 3.3: CAD-drawing top.

3.1.2 Rotation

Reduction of friction in rotational movement in both cases: X-axis (antenna) and Y-axis
(pedestal) is handled with custom made ball bearing rings. Rotational movements (x- and
y-axis) is handled with four motors (Magenta coloured lines in pictures 3.1. and 3.2). Motors,
which are the heaviest instrumental objects are placed similarly on both sides of the system
as low as possible. This placing minimizes the imbalances which might occur in rotational
movement. Power transmission from engines to movable object happens with worm gear
(see figure 3.4). This gear solution minimizes the looseness and maximizes the control
accuracy.

Figure 3.4: Worm gear principle

3.1.3 Wiring to rotational structure

Wirings from stationary structure (base) to rotational (pedestal) are handled with one ​slip
ring, which is placed into center of the base. Basic idea of this electromechanical component
is that there are separated conductive rings in rotational part and brushes, which touches
those rings in stationary part (see picture 3.5).
 Picture 3.5 Slip ring principle

Systems current design needs four wires: 24 VDC, Ground, Control signals for pedestal
motors 1 and 2. If there later occur a need to add sensors to rotational part of the system,
slip ring can be updated easily to one which has more entries. Slip ring’s brushes also wear
out in use so the whole part need to be easily changeable to new one.

3.2 Control instrumentation

The movement of the antenna is controlled by 24 VDC motors placed in the pillars and the
base of the system. In order to utilize the full torque of the motors, the speed is reduced and
more torque is transferred to the rotation of the antenna. To minimize the inaccuracy of the
system we use worm gears as gearbox that have a larger area of contact and a gear ration
in a smaller area than gearboxes with traditional cog wheels. We also use two motors for the
rotation of each axis and apply tension between the motors in order to eliminate position
errors due to inaccuracy in the gears.

As our electric motors are able to operate at speeds up to 3000 rpm and we only need the
platform to rotate 120 rpm, we can reduce the rotation speed 25 fold consequently
increasing the accuracy and torque an equivalent amount, not considering any efficiency
losses. With this gearing a 6 coil motor would in theory be just at the limit of reaching an
accuracy of 0.3 degrees in steering the antenna.
Through our simulation we were able to verify how powerful our motors need to be in order
for the system to be fast enough to track its targets. We found that the motors in the pillars
controlling the yaw of the antenna did not need as much power as the rest and that 400W
motors were sufficient. For the rotation of the antenna 600W motors allowed for the antenna
to barely track its targets. To be on the safe side we decided on a slightly larger 800W model
allowing the system to function properly despite possible misses in our simulation or wear
and tear after use.

3.3 Control software

When the antenna has a target, two voltage signals are sent to the platform that tell how
much difference there is between the target and the antenna normal. This signal is used by
the platform controller to aim the antenna at the target.

A PD controller is used to control the system. The original idea was to use a PID controller,
but we noticed that the system became unstable when we used a integrating part in the
controller, so we removed it as well as the integrator anti-windup that was useless now. The
controller was tuned only enough to verify that the solution is good enough to work, because
when the first prototype or the real system is built, it will need to be anyway tuned again.

The stabilization of the system in the scanning phase is done using the same controller and
simply changing the setpoint values given to the controller to scan the horizon.

In the original project plan we considered creating a model of the vehicle so that we could
simulate the disturbances caused by its movement to the antenna system. This proved to be
unnecessary when the antenna platform performance exceeded our expectations in the
simulations. We believe that this is because we balanced the system around the rotating
axes to minimize the forces that resist rotating movements of the system.
4. Modelling and verification of the system
In this part the simulation model of the system is first briefly explained. We won’t go into too
much depth here and only explain the main points of our approach. For readers interested in
the exact operation of the model, the whole system is included in the Appendix 1. In the
verification part we explain both what information we gained from the initial simulations and
how the resulting system design was verified using simulations.

4.1 Simulation of system

Below is the basic overview of simulink model. There are the high level components;
“VR sink” which visualizes the system, see figure 4.2.
“Tracking” subsystem returns the elevation (RotAntenna) and azimuth (RotPlat) angles for
given target coordinates.
“Stabilizing” subsystem returns the same angles when no target is available but the task is to
scan the area horizontally.

Fig. 4.1: High level components of the model.

 Fig. 4.2: Example frame of the VR sink’s visualization.

Figure 4.3 illustrates how the fundamental logic in tracking works. The idea is that a
reference angle value is calculated based on the target’s position and this is compared to the
current angle. In subsystem “Control law” this difference is mapped to a voltage by using a
PD-controller. Furthermore, the voltage is transferred to momentum by the motor and finally
the momentum is used to calculate the output angle. Similar logic is used in calculating the
elevation angle.

Fig. 4.3: A part of the subsystem “Tracking”.

 Fig. 4.4: A sample output of the system following a moving target. The whole platform
rotation has a bit delay because it’s more difficult (heavier) to rotate than elevation angle.

The stabilization part of the system is done by attempting to find such an elevation angle,
that after the rotation the direction of the antenna is aimed horizontally. In figure 4.5 is an
example of the problem. The curves are depicting antenna system; it basically has a height
from platform and a direction. The left one is unrotated curve where the elevation has been
applied. The right curve is how it looks like after the rotation (due to waves etc.), notice that
the direction is in line with horizontal plane.
 Fig. 4.5 An example situation of stabilizing the system.

4.2 Verification

We have estimated that the maximum rotational speed necessary to follow a target is 0.21
rad/s or 2.0 RPM. This is far slower than the scanning mode angular speed of 2 rounds per
second that was specified for the system, so for the design we will be using 120 RPM for
antenna movement around both axes.

One critical moment of operation is when the vehicle on which the platform accelerates
rapidly.This won’t cause problems for the antenna horizontal axis (A in Figure 4.6) or
platform vertical axis (C), because for both the mass and surface of the antenna and
pedestal are distributed evenly around the axes. Therefore momentum around the antenna
horizontal axis or pedestal vertical axis is zero and no extra torque is required to keep the
antenna stationary during acceleration. The fixations of the antenna support beams (at axis
B) to the pedestal have to withstand a rather large moment when the vehicle accelerates,
but this is no problem, because we can always use stronger materials for the fixations when
necessary.

Fig. 4.6: Radar axes relevant for moment calculations.

5. Conclusion

This document presented a working method for antenna stabilizing and tracking. It was
verified using Matlab Simulink and technical calculations of breaking strength and XXX.
The system presented uses four DC motors that give more than enough speed and torque
for turning the platform and antenna. Worm gears are used to add more accuracy and
torque. With the choices we have made, the accuracy and speed of the system exceeds the
requirements given by the customer.

Both stabilizing and tracking systems are controlled using a PD-controller which is simple yet
powerful for this application. The controller must be tuned after a prototype is constructed,
but as the simulations show PD-controller is good and robust for stabilizing the system and
tracking targets.

At this point no future work is being planned. This might change later if development of the
antenna stabilizer and tracking system improvements are desired by the customer.

Appendices
Appendix 1: Values used in system design and modeling.
Appendix 2: System design drawings.
Appendix 3: Simulation model of the system.
Appendix 1: Values used in system design and
modeling

Quantity Value Comments

Antenna dimensions 650 mm * 450 mm * From original problem specifications

150 mm

Antenna weight approx. 12 kg Calculated as an empty box of 5 mm

thick aluminium.

Mass of the pedestal 76 kg Calculated using aluminium, 4mm

thickness

Air density at -20 1,4 kg/m^3 For air drag calculations in simulation.
degC Worst case conditions.

Drag coefficient 2,1 Drag coefficient of a rectangular box.

Source:http://www.engineeringtoolbox.c
om/drag-coefficient-d_627.html

Aluminium density 2700 kg/m^3 For mass calculations

Max rotational speed

for following a target
Appendix 2: System design drawings

Design drawing from the front.

Design drawing from the side, antenna pointing down.
Design drawing from above.
Design drawing from the side, antenna pointing towards the side.