Structural design of a 64-meter low-cost antenna

The computer model of a 64 m ground antenna was generated by 1108 software. The reflector and alidade model was iteratively designed and analyzed by the JPL/IDEAS program, which minimized the distortion RMS with respect to the structural weight. Curves of values describing the optimizing processes are presented, functional aspects of the structural elements are defined, and detail descriptions of the design equations for stress calculations are included. Computed data used for calculating the RF boresight error and natural frequency answers are also included.