A cost-effective and rapid approach for predicting thermal induced warping deformation of spaceborne active phased array antennas

Spaceborne active phased array antennas operating in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) are inevitably affected by extreme thermal environments. This leads to structural deformation and degradation of antenna performance. This paper proposes a temperature field model for spaceborne active phased array antennas in LEO conditions and establishes a theoretical model to predict their thermally induced warping deformation. Based on this, a rapid prediction method for thermal warping deformation of such antenna structures in LEO environments is developed. Through finite element analysis (FEA) and experiments on antenna prototypes at room temperature, we demonstrate that this prediction method can efficiently forecast out-of-plane thermal warping deformation of the laminated antenna structure using limited information. Under LEO conditions, the mean absolute percentage errors (MAPE) between the theoretical and simulation results for the transmitting and receiving arrays are 17.92 % and 17.05 %, respectively. Under laboratory conditions, the MAPE between simulation and experimental results are 9.16 % and 15.50 %, while those between theoretical and experimental results are 22.50 % and 19.90 %, respectively. This work can significantly guide the design of electrical and mechanical compensation for thermal warping deformation in spaceborne active phased array antennas. It contributes to shortening the antenna design cycle and reducing costs.