Patent ID: 7006049

Claim:
A method for controlling a dual reflector antenna system, the dual reflector antenna system having a main reflector, a subreflector and an aperture plane, the method comprising: (a) determining a plurality of reference points including a source point, a subreflector reference point and a main reflector reference point; (b) determining a total optical path using the plurality of reference points, the total optical path having a plurality of segments, the plurality of segments including a first segment measured from the source point to the subreflector, a second segment measured from the subreflector to the main reflector, and a third segment measured from the main reflector to the aperture plane; (c) selecting a ray field emanating from the source point to generate a plurality of points to define a surface for the subreflector and a surface for the main reflector; (d) using a mapping function to map the plurality of points to an outgoing ray field emanating from the main reflector; (e) initializing the subreflector surface; (f) obtaining a plurality of incident vectors, each incident vector being directed from the source point to a point of intersection on the subreflector surface; (g) determining a reflected vector for each incident vector; (h) determining a plurality of desired normal vectors using the plurality of incident vectors and the corresponding reflected vectors; (i) computing an updated subreflector surface using the plurality of desired normal vectors; and (j) determining the surface of the main reflector using the updated subreflector surface and the total optical path.