Experimental study on the effect of wind on pointing accuracy of antenna structures

Wind loads have instantaneity and turbulence characteristics that will lead to pointing errors in antenna structures,and these errors cannot be ignored in high-frequency observations.Using the Tianma 65 m radio telescope(TMRT)as an example object,the pointing errors caused by wind loads are investigated using an accelerometer system.First,the resonant frequency range of the antenna structure is used for reference to acquire useful signals through the bandpass filtering method.Then,the direct current(DC)component of these signals is filtered out using the fast discrete Fourier transform method,and the baseline of the acceleration is corrected using the least-squares method.Finally,the acceleration integral is solved approximately using the discrete trapezoidal area method,and the structural vibration displacement of the antenna is determined using a double integral of acceleration.The pointing errors are then obtained based on the displacement relationship between the primary and subreflector surfaces.When the wind speed is 3.2 m/s,the antenna pitch angle is 61.7°and the wind direction angle is 80°,the generated pitch pointing error is 3.05'',and the azimuth pointing error is 1.14''.These results are consistent with those obtained via inclinometer measurements,thus validating the signal processing method and the pointing error calculation method proposed in this paper.The research methods and data analysis results reported here provide a basis for further wind-induced pointing error correction studies.

基于轻量化PointNet网络的林果园喷雾作业靶标实时识别方法

为了进一步提高喷雾机器人靶标检测的精准性、实时性和应用部署的实用性,该研究提出一种基于轻量化PointNet网络的林果园喷雾作业靶标实时识别方法。首先通过区域提取降采样、地面分割和改进DBSCAN聚类等点云预处理方法提取原始点云中的靶标;然后通过移动最小二乘上采样将靶标点云转化为满足点云识别网络输入要求的点云数据;最终通过在PointNet网络中引入残差模块和改进循环剪枝算法轻量化PointNet网络,完成林果树靶标的实时识别。试验结果表明,在ModelNet40数据集上,轻量化PointNet网络可达89.7%的准确率;在实际苗圃环境的试验中,该研究方法对靶标的识别准确率可达92.49%,同时误识率与拒识率分别为13.4%和6.47%,相较PointNet网络识别准确率提升了4.38个百分点,误识率和拒识率分别降低了7.2和4.07个百分点;轻量化PointNet网络识别准确率仅比PointNet++网络低1.14个百分点,误识率和拒识率分别高了0.9和1.12个百分点。但是轻量化PointNet网络的模型参数量较PointNet网络和PointNet++网络的模型参数量显著减少,仅为PointNet网络的11.5%,PointNet++网络的27.02%;运算量相较PointNet网络、PointNet++网络分别减少13.3和76.79个百分点。该研究提出的轻量化PointNet网络具有较高的实时性、精确性和鲁棒性,能够满足林果园喷雾作业的靶标识别需求,可为林果园喷雾作业靶标实时识别提供参考。

MmWave Beamforming for UAV Communications with Unstable Beam Pointing

Millimeter wave(mmWave) communications of unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) have drawn dramatic attentions for its flexibility on a variety of applications.Recently,channel tracking base on the spatial features has been proposed to solve the problem of beam misalignments due to the UAV navigation.However,unstable beam pointing caused by the non-ideal beam tracking environment may impact the performance of mmWave systems significantly.In this paper,an improved beamforming method is presented to overcome this shortcoming.Firstly,the effect of the beam deviation is analyzed through the establishment of the equivalent data rate.Then,combining the quantification of spatial angle and the improved orthogonal matching pursuit(OMP) algorithm,an optimized beam corresponding to the beam deviation is obtained.Simulation results show that the optimized beam of the proposed approach can effectively improve the spectral efficiency without improving the complexity when the beam pointing is unstable.

An Error Equivalent Model of Revolute Joints with Clearances for Antenna Pointing Mechanisms

Joint clearances in antenna pointing mechanisms lead to uncertainty in function deviation. Current studies mainly focus on radial clearance of revolute joints, while axial clearance has rarely been taken into consideration. In fact, own?ing to errors from machining and assembly, thermal deformation and so forth, practically, axial clearance is inevitable in the joint. In this study, an error equivalent model(EEM) of revolute joints is proposed with considering both radial and axial clearances. Compared to the planar model of revolute joints only considering radial clearance, the journal motion inside the bearing is more abundant and matches the reality better in the EEM. The model is also extended for analyzing the error distribution of a spatial dual?axis("X–Y" type) antenna pointing mechanism of Spot?beam antennas which especially demand a high pointing accuracy. Three case studies are performed which illustrates the internal relation between radial clearance and axial clearance. It is found that when the axial clearance is big enough, the physical journal can freely realize both translational motion and rotational motion. While if the axial clearance is limited, the motion of the physical journal will be restricted. Analysis results indicate that the consideration of both radial and axial clearances in the revolute joint describes the journal motion inside the bearing more precise. To further validate the proposed model, a model of the EEM is designed and fabricated. Some suggestions on the design of revolute joints are also provided.

A new calibration model for pointing a radio telescope that considers nonlinear errors in the azimuth axis

A new calibration model of a radio telescope that includes pointing error is presented, which considers nonlinear errors in the azimuth axis. For a large radio telescope, in particular for a telescope with a turntable, it is difficult to correct pointing errors using a traditional linear calibration model, because errors produced by the wheel-on-rail or center bearing structures are generally nonlinear. Fourier expansion is made for the oblique error and parameters describing the inclination direction along the azimuth axis based on the linear calibration model, and a new calibration model for pointing is derived. The new pointing model is applied to the 40 m radio telescope administered by Yunnan Observatories, which is a telescope that uses a turntable. The results show that this model can significantly reduce the residual systematic errors due to nonlinearity in the azimuth axis compared with the linear model.

Two-step Structural Design of Mesh Antennas for High Beam Pointing Accuracy

A well-designed reflector surface with high beam pointing accuracy in electromagnetic performance is of practical significance to the space application of cable mesh reflector antennas. As for space requirements, cir- cular polarizations are widely used in spaceborne antennas, which usually lead to a beam shift for offset reflectors and influence the beam pointing accuracy. A two-step structural design procedure is proposed to overcome the beam squint phenomenon for high beam pointing accuracy design of circularly polarized offset cable mesh reflectors. A simple structural optimal design and an integrated structural electromagnetic optimization are combined to alleviate the beam squint effect of circular polarizations. It is imple- mented by cable pretension design and adjustment to shape the offset cable mesh surface. Besides, in order to increase the efficiency of integrated optimization, an update Broy- den-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno （BFGS） Hessian matrix is employed in the optimization iteration with sequential quadratic programming. A circularly polarized offset cable mesh reflector is utilized to show the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed procedure. A high beam pointing accuracy in order of 0.0001~ of electromagnetic performance is achieved.

Effect of the alidade thermal behavior on the pointing accuracy of a large radio telescope

The alidade’s non-uniform temperature field of a large radio telescope is very obvious under solar radiation.Estimating a radio telescope’s pointing errors,caused by the alidade deformation under solar radiation,is significant to improve the telescope’s pointing accuracy.To study the effect of the alidade thermal behavior on the pointing accuracy of a large radio telescope,a temperature experiment is first carried out in a 70-m radio telescope on a sunny day.According to the measured results,the temperature distribution rule of the alidade is summarized initially.In addition,the alidade’s temperature field is calculated by finite element thermal analysis.The simulated results are proved to be in good agreement with the experimental results.Finally,the alidade deformation under solar radiation is computed by finite element thermalstructure coupling analysis.The telescope’s pointing errors caused by alidade deformation are estimated via the alidade’s node displacements.The final results show that the effect of alidade thermal behavior on the telescope’s elevation pointing errorsΔε2+Δεr is much more than the effect on the telescope’s crosselevation pointing errorsΔε1.The maximum ofΔε2+Δεr is more than 45″,while the maximum ofΔε1 is less than 6″.This study can provide valuable references for improving the pointing accuracy of large radio telescopes.

A Magnetically Levitated Precise Pointing Mechanism for Application to Optical Communication Terminals

Increasing data bandwidth requirements from spacecraft systems is beginning to pressure existing microwave communications systems. Free-Space optical communications allows for larger bandwidths for lower relative power consumption, smaller size and weight when compared to the microwave equivalent. However optical communication does have a formidable challenge that needs to be overcome before the advantages of the technology can be fully utilized. In order for the communication to be successful the transmitter and receiver terminals need to be pointed with a high accuracy (generally in the order of ≤10 μradians) for the duration of communication. In this paper we present a new concept for the precise pointing of optical communications terminals (termed the Precise Pointing Mechanism). In this new concept we combine the separate pointing mechanisms of a conventional optical terminal into a single mechanism, reducing the complexity and cost of the optical bench. This is achieved by electromagnetically actuating the whole telescope assembly in 6 degrees-of-freedom with an angular resolution of less than ±3 μradians within a 10 (Az. El.) field of view and linear resolution of ±2 μm. This paper presents the new pointing mechanism and discusses the modelling, simulation and experimental work undertaken using the bespoke engineering model developed.

基于PointNet++的邻域特征增强点云语义分割方法

随着智能驾驶、机器人导航等以点云为基础的应用蓬勃发展,点云语义分割逐渐成为研究热点。然而,现有的点云语义分割方法存在局部特征提取不充分、特征融合不完整的缺陷。针对这些不足,提出了对应的解决方案。对于局部特征提取不充分的现象,通过嵌入邻域点的坐标、方向、距离等相关信息去关联邻域点的显式特征。对于特征融合不完整的现象,提出了一种最大池化与自注意力池化相结合的混合池化方法。网络架构基于PointNet++,并结合提出的局部特征提取和融合方法,在S3DIS数据集上的实验结果表明,与基线方法PointNet++相比,各评价指标都有不同程度的提高,证实了新方法的有效性和优越性。

基于Point Transformer v2的点云枝叶分离方法研究

准确高效的点云枝叶分离对精确计算森林树木的垂直参数至关重要。然而,当前的研究方法计算成本高,且依赖先验知识导致泛化能力不足。针对以上问题,文章提出利用基于点特征的Transformer网络进行自动化的森林场景三维点云的枝叶分离研究。该方法使用Point Transformer v2网络,首先利用网格编码模块提取可学习的局部结构关系,保留点云的几何拓扑结构;其次使用分组注意力实现多通道联合学习,降低特征的冗余度,提高计算的效率;最后构建了基于点的Transformer网络实现高精度森林树木三维点云语义分割,降低了对于先验知识的需求。使用地基激光扫描仪获取的加拿大和芬兰7个不同树种样地的三维点云数据,进行枝叶分离实验和精度评价。实验结果表明,网络整体精度(OA)为94.42%,mIoU为78.89%,能够适应不同树种、不同点云密度的森林场景的枝叶分离。

Effect of beam-pointing errors on bistatic SAR imaging

The purpose is to conduct a research in the energy variation of echo wave and the imaging effect caused by the aero bistatic SAR pointing errors. Based on the moving geometry configuration of aero bistatic SAR, a model of beam pointing errors is built. Based on this, the azimuth Doppler frequency center estimation caused by these errors and the limitation to the beam pointing synchronization error are studied, and then the imaging result of different errors are analyzed. The computer＇s simulations are provided to prove the validity of the above analysis.

A Precise Calibration Method on Phase Center of Uplink Antenna Array Considering Its Actual Pointing

With regard to the inferior techniques and low accuracy of phase center calibration of an antenna array, this paper proposes a new calibration method considering the actual antenna pointing by introducing a precise engineering surveying technique to measure the real state of antennas. First, an industrial photogrammetric system is utilized to obtain the coordinates of points on antenna panels in different postures, and the actual pointing of the mechanical axis is obtained via least-squares fitting. Then, based on this, the coordinates of antenna rotation center are obtained by seeking the intersection of mechanical axes via using the matrix method. Finally, the mechanical axis in arbitrary postures is estimated based on the inverse-angle weighting interpolation method, and the reliable phase center is obtained by moving a fixed length from the projective center along the mechanical axis. An uplink antenna array including three ? 3 m antennas is taken as experimental object, and all photogrammetric coordinate systems are unified by the engineering control network, with each antenna phase center precisely calibrated via the proposed method. The results of electrical signal synthesis indicate that this method can effectively overcome the influence of gravity deformation and mechanical installation error, and enhance the synthetic signal magnitude of the uplink antenna array.

Point Cloud Classification Using Content-Based Transformer via Clustering in Feature Space

Recently, there have been some attempts of Transformer in 3D point cloud classification. In order to reduce computations, most existing methods focus on local spatial attention,but ignore their content and fail to establish relationships between distant but relevant points. To overcome the limitation of local spatial attention, we propose a point content-based Transformer architecture, called PointConT for short. It exploits the locality of points in the feature space(content-based), which clusters the sampled points with similar features into the same class and computes the self-attention within each class, thus enabling an effective trade-off between capturing long-range dependencies and computational complexity. We further introduce an inception feature aggregator for point cloud classification, which uses parallel structures to aggregate high-frequency and low-frequency information in each branch separately. Extensive experiments show that our PointConT model achieves a remarkable performance on point cloud shape classification. Especially, our method exhibits 90.3% Top-1 accuracy on the hardest setting of ScanObjectN N. Source code of this paper is available at https://github.com/yahuiliu99/PointC onT.

Material point method simulation of hydro-mechanical behaviour in twophase porous geomaterials: A state-of-the-art review

The material point method(MPM)has been gaining increasing popularity as an appropriate approach to the solution of coupled hydro-mechanical problems involving large deformation.In this paper,we survey the current state-of-the-art in the MPM simulation of hydro-mechanical behaviour in two-phase porous geomaterials.The review covers the recent advances and developments in the MPM and their extensions to capture the coupled hydro-mechanical problems involving large deformations.The focus of this review is aiming at providing a clear picture of what has or has not been developed or implemented for simulating two-phase coupled large deformation problems,which will provide some direct reference for both practitioners and researchers.

Study on the pointing model of a slant-axis terahertz antenna

This paper describes the establishment and verification of an accurate pointing model for a1.2 m aperture slant-axis terahertz antenna.A new analytical pointing model for the slant-axis antenna is presented based on an analogy to that of the alt-azimuth antennas.Furthermore,extra error terms are added to the pointing model based on the structure and mechanical analysis of the slant-axis antenna.To verify the pointing model experimentally,a pointing error measurement method based on photogrammetric techniques is proposed.Using this method,pointing behaviors of the antenna are accurately measured without the aid of astronomical observations,and major sources of the pointing errors are measured individually by photogrammetry and their respective coefficients are compared with those in the analytical pointing model.The results show that an extended pointing model consisting 21 error terms can significantly reduce the residual systematic errors compared with the traditional model,more details are given in the following sections.

Two-Staged Method for Ice Channel Identification Based on Image Segmentation and Corner Point Regression

Identification of the ice channel is the basic technology for developing intelligent ships in ice-covered waters,which is important to ensure the safety and economy of navigation.In the Arctic,merchant ships with low ice class often navigate in channels opened up by icebreakers.Navigation in the ice channel often depends on good maneuverability skills and abundant experience from the captain to a large extent.The ship may get stuck if steered into ice fields off the channel.Under this circumstance,it is very important to study how to identify the boundary lines of ice channels with a reliable method.In this paper,a two-staged ice channel identification method is developed based on image segmentation and corner point regression.The first stage employs the image segmentation method to extract channel regions.In the second stage,an intelligent corner regression network is proposed to extract the channel boundary lines from the channel region.A non-intelligent angle-based filtering and clustering method is proposed and compared with corner point regression network.The training and evaluation of the segmentation method and corner regression network are carried out on the synthetic and real ice channel dataset.The evaluation results show that the accuracy of the method using the corner point regression network in the second stage is achieved as high as 73.33%on the synthetic ice channel dataset and 70.66%on the real ice channel dataset,and the processing speed can reach up to 14.58frames per second.

A Reverse-Design Strategy for the Track Error of the Qi Tai Telescope Based on Pointing Accuracy

The Qi Tai Telescope(QTT),which has a 110 m aperture,is planned to be the largest scale steerable tele-scope in the world.Ideally,the telescope’s repeated pointing accuracy error should be less than 2.5 arc seconds(arcsec);thus,the telescope structure must satisfy ultra-high precision requirements.In this pur-suit,the present research envisages a reverse-design method for the track surface to reduce the difficulty of the telescope’s design and manufacture.First,the distribution characteristics of the test data for the track error were verified using the skewness coefficient and kurtosis coefficient methods.According to the distribution characteristics,the azimuth track error was simulated by a two-scale model.The error of the long period and short amplitude was characterized as large-scale and described by a trigonometric function,while the short period and high amplitude error was characterized as small-scale and simulated by a fractal function.Based on the two-scale model,effect of the error on the pointing accuracy was deduced.Subsequently,the relationship between the root mean square(RMS)of the track error and the RMS of the pointing accuracy error of the telescope was deduced.Finally,the allowable RMS value of the track error was derived from the allowable pointing accuracy errors.To validate the effectiveness of the new design method,two typical radio telescopes(the Green Bank Telescope(GBT)and the Large Millimeter Telescope(LMT))were selected as experimental examples.Through comparison,the theoretical calculated values of the pointing accuracy of the telescope were consistent with the measured values,with a maximum error of less than 10%.

Automatic Extraction Method of 3D Feature Guidelines for Complex Cultural Relic Surfaces Based on Point Cloud

Cultural relics line graphic serves as a crucial form of traditional artifact information documentation,which is a simple and intuitive product with low cost of displaying compared with 3D models.Dimensionality reduction is undoubtedly necessary for line drawings.However,most existing methods for artifact drawing rely on the principles of orthographic projection that always cannot avoid angle occlusion and data overlapping while the surface of cultural relics is complex.Therefore,conformal mapping was introduced as a dimensionality reduction way to compensate for the limitation of orthographic projection.Based on the given criteria for assessing surface complexity,this paper proposed a three-dimensional feature guideline extraction method for complex cultural relic surfaces.A 2D and 3D combined factor that measured the importance of points on describing surface features,vertex weight,was designed.Then the selection threshold for feature guideline extraction was determined based on the differences between vertex weight and shape index distributions.The feasibility and stability were verified through experiments conducted on real cultural relic surface data.Results demonstrated the ability of the method to address the challenges associated with the automatic generation of line drawings for complex surfaces.The extraction method and the obtained results will be useful for line graphic drawing,displaying and propaganda of cultural relics.

基于改进PointNet++的输电线路关键部位点云语义分割研究

输电线路的关键部位包括塔身、导线、绝缘子、避雷线以及引流线,无人机精细化导航的首要任务是构造输电线路的点云地图并从中分割出上述部位。为解决现有算法在输电线路的绝缘子、引流线等精细结构分割时精度低的问题,通过改进PointNet++算法,提出了一种面向输电线路精细结构的点云分割方法。首先,基于无人机机载激光雷达在现场采集的点云数据,构造了输电线路点云分割数据集;其次,通过对比实验,筛选出在本输电线路场景下合理的数据增强方法,并对数据集进行了数据增强;最后,将自注意力机制以及倒置残差结构和PointNet++相结合,设计了输电线路关键部位点云语义分割算法。实验结果表明:该改进PointNet++算法在全场景输电线路现场点云数据作为输入的前提下,首次实现了对引流线、绝缘子等输电线路中精细结构和导线、杆塔塔身以及输电线路无关背景点的同时分割,平均交并比(mean intersection over union,mIoU)达80.79%,所有类别分割的平均F_(1)值(F1 score)达88.99%。

Coexistence of Dirac and Weyl points in non-centrosymmetric semimetal NbIrTe_(4)

Using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations methods,we investigate the electronic structures and topological properties of ternary tellurides NbIrTe_(4),a candidate for type-II Weyl semimetal.We demonstrate the presence of several Fermi arcs connecting their corresponding Weyl points on both termination surfaces of the topological material.Our analysis reveals the existence of Dirac points,in addition to Weyl points,giving both theoretical and experimental evidences of the coexistence of Dirac and Weyl points in a single material.These findings not only confirm NbIrTe_(4) as a unique topological semimetal but also open avenues for exploring novel electronic devices based on its coexisting Dirac and Weyl fermions.