Andrey S. Maltsev
JSC “SRC “Progress” (Samara, Russia)
malcev-tsskb@mail.ru
The patterns of propagation of radio waves to a large extent determine the quality indicators and the stability of the operation of terrestrial radio links. One of the important tasks in testing radio systems is the construction of reliable communication channels that ensure the stable reception of information from the product side to ground stations.
A mobile service tower is a distinctive feature of the launch complexes of modern spaceports such as Vostochny and Guiana Space Center. It provides comfortable access for working personnel to the launch vehicle at various levels of the service areas and protection of the launch vehicle from adverse environmental conditions during testing and preparation for launch.
To ensure the reception of information from radio systems of the rocket by ground measuring stations during testing at the launch complex inside the mobile service tower, it is necessary to use a relay antenna-feeder device. However, in this case, the classical signal relay scheme, consisting in general form of an internal relay antenna located in close proximity to rocket onboard antennas, an external relay antenna installed on the roof of a mobile service tower and a feeder network connecting the relay antennas, under these conditions not applicable. Multiple reflections of the signal of the onboard antennas of the rocket excite high-frequency currents on the internal metal surfaces of the mobile service tower, and the existing slots, regardless of the polarization of the exciting currents, form spurious communication channels through the formed slot antennas, the signal level of which can be comparable with the energy level of the relay antenna feeder device. Therefore, the ground-based measuring station will receive signals from the radio engineering system both from the relay antenna-feeder device of the rocket and directly from the airborne antennas of the rocket, the interaction of which at different amplitude-phase ratios can lead to attenuation (or increase) of the signal at the ground-based measuring station, which leads to failures in receiving information.
To eliminate this phenomenon, it is necessary to significantly reduce the spurious signal from the on-board antennas passing through the metal structure of the mobile service tower, which is achieved by the use of radio-sealed antenna tips mounted directly on the on-board antennas for the duration of the rocket test, providing the transmission of the RF signal to the relay antenna feeder device. The article presents the results of modeling and experimental research of the transmitting antenna tip in the Ansys HFSS CAD system, which is necessary for testing the antenna-feeder device together with the radio engineering system of the Soyuz-2 launch vehicle at the technical and launch complexes of the Vostochny. The electrical characteristics of the experimental sample of the antenna nozzle made according to the simulation results are presented.
The use of antenna tips in a relay antenna-feeder device provides high-quality information reception at a ground-based measuring station. Development of modeling principles and algorithms for calculating electrical characteristics will significantly reduce material and time costs for pilot production, experimental research, final tuning and tuning of antenna tips developed for various frequency ranges of radio engineering systems of launch vehicles.
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