New Antenna Calibration Techniques in the Deep Space Network

This work describes the development of new automated antenna calibration instrumentation for the Deep Space Network (DSN). The purpose of the antenna calibration instrumentation is to provide reliable tools for the assessment, calibration, and improvement of the performance of the large number of antenna systems in the DSN, with special emphasis on Ka-band (32-GHz) performance of the 34-m beam-waveguide (BWG) antennas. The work describes the analysis that was done to characterize the various mechanisms that contribute to noise in the measurements. The results from the analysis led to design and development of a research and development calibration system that utilized the on-the-fly-mapping technique and was deployed at the DSN complex in Goldstone, California. Early results for calibration of the DSN ground antennas and the Cassini onboard radar as a radiometer are presented and agree well with analytical predictions. The system was further used in conjunction with a new fourth-order pointing model to achieve a record blind-pointing performance of the 34-m BWG antennas. The article concludes with a description of the design and implemention of an automated antenna calibration system based on these principles for the DSN: the Antenna Calibration and Measurement Equipment (ACME).