Patent ID: 11901630
Assignee: LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
Field: Telecommunications (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 7:
8. A method of operating an antenna system, comprising:
in a star tracker element coupled to a feed structure, determining orientation information relative to star alignment;
in laser distancing elements coupled to the feed structure, determining distance measurements relative to a plurality of reflective targets disposed about a rim of a main reflector, the reflective targets having corresponding shapes selected to provide reflection of beams emitted by the laser distancing elements over a range of orientations relative to the feed structure producible by a gimbal mechanism for the main reflector; and
in a control system, determining pointing errors of the main reflector based at least on the orientation information and the distance measurements, wherein a sub-reflector coupled to the feed structure is configured to propagate signals between an electronically scanned array (ESA) feed and the main reflector.