Measurement and Correction of Pointing Error Caused by Radio Telescope Alidade Deformation based on Biaxial Inclination Sensor

Abstract

One of the key reasons for the deterioration of antenna pointing accuracy for radio telescopes is the deformation and tilt of antenna alidades, which primarily result from track unevenness and thermal gradients. A high-precision inclinometer measurement system is installed to investigate the tilt of the antenna alidade and the pointing errors caused thermally. An environment control box with a leveling base was designed to reduce the interference of the external environment, which proved to be effective in guaranteeing the zero-point stability and repeat accuracy of the inclinometer. The tilt of the alidade caused by the track unevenness was measured by a test of slowly rotating the antenna along the azimuth at windless nighttime. A 5-day antenna stationary test and a 48 h astronomical pointing error measurement were performed, which proved the inclinometer measurement system is capable of measuring the thermally induced inclinations with acceptable accuracy. Through a preliminary compensation experiment, the pointing error is compensated from 37″ to 12″, which shows that the application of the system has a good effect on improving the pointing accuracy of the antenna. The system with high measurement accuracy, good system stability, and low computational complexity, proves an effective tool for the radio telescope to solve the problem of real-time measurement and compensation for antenna pointing errors.