DESIGN METHODS

ASSIGNMENT 4

Dual Axis Antenna Control System

ABSTRACT:
The dual axis antenna control system is used to observe the radiation pattern of the test antennas
in an anechoic chamber. This antenna control system is a highly precise and user friendly control
system, by using this system we can record different antenna pattern by moving the antenna in a
triangular, square and conical pattern. This control system provides both auto and manual modes
to control antenna. The auto modes provides automatic control of the antenna in both axis as per
the previously recorded values or we can upload a table with time, azimuth angle and elevation
angle columns .In manual mode we have to manually operate the system by using the push
buttons on the control unit. The UP and DOWN push buttons are used to move the antenna in the
Elevation axis whereas the left and right buttons are used to move the antenna in anti-clockwise
and clockwise directions in Azimuth axis. The system will automatically stopped if we try to
operate more than the designed angles and errors will be displayed on the LCD. The controlling
devices in the control unit is Microcontroller. The motor drives, display, encoders and the I/O
terminals are connected to the micro controller. VC++ software is used to design the graphical
user interface and to implement the auto mode from the PC.
Keywords: antenna control system, closed loop control system, antenna positioner, automatic
antenna positioner, micro controller and Encoders, low cost dual axis system.

LITERATURE REVIEW:
Angelkov, Dimitrija; Koceska, Natasa; Koceski, Saso, emphasizes about a low cost dual axis
tracking ,here the system caluculates the position of the sun by considering the topo centric
position and time but in our automatic antenna control system our control unit calculates the
required movements in azimuth and elevation from table given by considering the current
position.[1]

Sundari.S.M emphasizes on the design of dual axis antenna pointing system and the challenges
we will face during the design and its control. He explained how to achieve a closed loop control
system using the potentiometer sensors and how to design the controller card. I considered this
paper since I have taken this potentiometer sensors to find the angles in azimuth and elevation
axis. [2]

Elkoteshy.Y,Shuyuan.Y and Hegazy.M emphasizes a new model to implement a closed loop

control system with a minium tracking error.[3]

Mid, E.C.; Yang, S.S., presents how to improve the performance of the control system when the
sensor is faulty at the time of operation by finding the sensor faulty by using an observer base
element to compensate the problem. The sensor damage can cause a severe damage to the system
if we dont have protection in a closed loop system. The reliability of automatic tracking system
is improved using this fault tolerant control system. [4]

Yingfa Wang; Changliang Xia; Maohua Zhang; Dan Liu, emphasizes about an algorithm used to
control the speed of the Dc stepper motors in a closed loop control system, they used the current
loop controller to achieve the best performance in speed , control accuracy, adaptability and

robust. In our antenna control system the algorithm is similar to this with some minute
modifications. [6]

Ballesteros, M.; Book, W emphasizes about the alternatives for a dual axes control system with
command shaping from a central computer. In this paper they described about the alternatives
and how to implement the architecture. [7]

Daniel Babitch,Sanjose and calif emphasizes about a pointing system which contains two GPS
antennas mounted at horizontally opposed extremities of a directional antenna. The output of the
GPS are both down converted and phase compared. The latitude and longitude positions of these
two gps are caluculated in computer .The servo sytem moves the ditrection of the antenna
towards particular satellite communication satellite based on the difference caluculate in
azimuth, elevation, latitude and longitude calculated on the computer. GPS is used to reduce
multi path effects. This is an old Dual Axis Antenna Control System using GPS [9]

REFERENCES:
[1] Angelkov, Dimitrija; Koceska, Natasa; Koceski, Saso, "Low-cost dual-axis system for solar
tracking," Embedded Computing (MECO), 2014 3rd Mediterranean Conference on , vol.1,
pp.169,172, 15-19 June 2014
[2] Sundari.S.M, "Design of antenna pointing system(APS) its control and communication
challenges,

Control Communication and Computing (ICCC), 2013 International

Conference on , vol. 1, pp.490,495, 13-15 Dec. 2013.

[3] M Elkoteshy, Y.; Shuyuan, Y.; Hegazy, M., "RBF based adaptive backstepping neural control
of a dual-axis motion platform," Control Conference (CCC), 2013 32nd Chinese, vol. 1,
pp.3083, 3088, 26-28 July 2013.

[4] Mid, E.C.; Yang, S.S., "Reliability improvement of closed loop control systems via observer
based sensor compensation international conference on control, automation and systems
(ICCAS 2012)," Control, Automation and Systems (ICCAS), 2012 12th International
Conference on , vol 1, pp.819,824, 17-21 Oct. 2012.
[5] Leatherwood, D., "Conical near-field antenna measurement system," Antennas and
Propagation Magazine, IEEE, vol.50, no.6, pp.212- 218, Dec. 2008.
[6] Yingfa Wang; Changliang Xia; Maohua Zhang; Dan Liu, "Adaptive Speed Control for
Brushless DC Motors Based On Genetic Algorithm and RBF Neural Network," Control and
Automation, 2007. ICCA 2007. IEEE International Conference on, vol 1, pp.1219-1222, May
30 2007-June 1 2007.
[7] Ballesteros, M.; Book, W., "Implementation alternatives for dual rate control systems with
command shaping," American Control Conference, 2002. Proceedings of the 2002, vol.3,
pp.2285-2291, 2002.
[8] Ibbini, M.S.; Alawneh, S.R., "Closed-loop control system robustness improvement by a
parameterised state feedback," Control Theory and Applications, IEE Proceedings - ,
vol.145, no.1, pp.33,40, Jan 1998
[9] Daniel Babitch,Sanjose and calif Automatic antenna pointing system based on Global
Positioning System(GPS) Attitude information, 1994.

TOPICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
MICROCONTROLLER
[1] AT32UC3A0128 Micro-controller, Rertrieved on from http://www.atmel.com, January,
2012.
[2] Nader Barsoum, "Programming of PIC Micro-Controller for Power Factor Correction," First
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[3] Nader Barsoum, "Programming of PIC Micro-Controller for Power Factor Correction," First
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[4] Leah Buechley, "A Construction Kit for Electronic Textiles," 10th IEEE International
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[5] Kim, J.C.; Lee, S.H.; Lee, D.-Y.; Lee, J.H.; Jeong, W.C.; Park, H.-J.; Mok, I.S., "Single-chip

implementation of a 32-bit microcontroller for motor drive," ASIC Conference 1998.

Proceedings. Eleventh Annual IEEE International, vol. 1, pp.3-6, 13-16 Sep 1998.
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DC MOTOR DRIVERS AND MOTORS

[1] Rajeshkanna, G., "Modern speed control of separately excited DC Motor by Boost converter
fed field control method," Computer Communication and Informatics (ICCCI), 2013
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[2] Vazquez-Sanchez, E.; Gomez-Gil, J.; Gamazo-Real, J.C.; Diez-Higuera, J.F., "A New
Method for Sensorless Estimation of the Speed and Position in Brushed DC Motors Using
Support Vector Machines,"Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions on , vol.59, no.3,
pp.1397,1408, March 2012.
[3] Munje, R.K.; Roda, M.R.; Kushare, B.E., "Speed control of DC motor using PI and
SMC," IPEC, 2010 Conference Proceedings , vol., no., pp.945,950, 27-29 Oct. 2010

[4] Zhu Haishui; Wang Dahu; Zhang Tong; Huang Keming, "Design on a DC Motor Speed
Control," Intelligent Computation Technology and Automation (ICICTA), 2010 International
Conference on , vol.2, no., pp.59,63, 11-12 May 2010.
[5] Wipasuramonton, P.; Sowsuwan, K., "Current-controlled PWM Technique for brushless DC
motor drives with a single current sensing resistor," Telecommunications Energy Conference,
2009. INTELEC 2009. 31st International, vol., no., pp.1- 5, 18-22 Oct. 2009.
[6] Helei Wu; Xueqiang Chen; Lingyan Hu, "Embedded System of DC Motor Speed Control
Based on ARM," Computing, Communication, Control, and Management, 2008. CCCM '08.
ISECS International Colloquium on, vol.2, no., pp.123- 126, 3-4 Aug. 2008.
[7] Zhu, Z.Q.; Liu, Y.; Howe, D., "Comparison of Performance of Brushless DC Drives under
Direct Torque Control and PWM Current Control," Electrical Machines and Systems, 2005.
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[8] http://www.applied-motion.com/sites/default/files/BLDC_Datasheet_925-0013A.pdf
[9] http://www.robotshop.com/media/files/pdf/datasheet-mot103b1m.pdf
POWER SUPPLY
[1] http://www.alliedelec.com/images/products/datasheets/bm/TDK-LAMBDA/70177295.pdf.
[2] http://www.alliedelec.com/catalog/pf.aspx?fn=920.pdf
[3] http://www.us.tdk-lambda.com/ftp/catalog/catalog_2014.pdf
DC-DC CONVERTER
[1] http://www.us.tdk-lambda.com/ftp/catalog/catalog_2014.pdf.
LCD DISPLAY
[1] http://www.newhavendisplay.com/specs/NHD-0420DZ-FSW-FBW.pdf