Patent ID: 8244066

Claim:
A system comprising, an image capture subsystem for providing a patterned illumination of light upon a surface of a space-based flexible membrane antenna and capturing reflective returns of light from the space-based flexible membrane antenna as captured image data of a shape of the surface of the space-based flexible membrane antenna, wherein the space-based flexible membrane antenna comprises piezoelectric material, a shape determination subsystem for receiving the captured image data from the image capture subsystem and providing membrane shape data by determining the shape of the surface, the shape determination subsystem implementing a membrane shape determination method comprising the steps of, Hilbert transforming the image data into complex image data, generating 2-dimensional wrapped phase data from the complex image data, unwrapping the 2-dimensional wrapped phase data into unwrapped data, and converting the unwrapped data into shape data defining the shape of the surface, and a deformation actuation subsystem for deforming the shape of the surface of the space-based flexible membrane antenna to a desired shape, wherein the deformation actuation subsystem comprises: an electron gun; and a controller for determining control signals for the electron gun based on at least the membrane shape data determined by the shape determination subsystem and the desired shape for the surface of the space-based flexible membrane antenna, wherein the electron gun is for impinging electrons on the surface of the space-based flexible membrane antenna to thereby deform the shape of the space-based flexible membrane antenna to the desired shape through piezoelectric actuation.