ABSTRACT

The target guided Antenna is consisting of a motorized parabolic antenna that is rotating

on its axis in 360 degree and covering the entire horizontal plane. There are receivers

with control circuit which makes the antenna to chase the target which emit the signal

sensitive to the receiver. In this project the signal source is simulated with modulated

Infrared signal source. The control unit is designed in such a manner that it rotates and

checks for the signal source once the antenna detect the signal source then the

antenna is stopped and moves as per the movement of the source. The antenna chases

the source continuously. And at the same time it transmit the serial data to the PC to the

display the graphics screen defines the angle / position of the source / target on the

computer screen. The controller will continuously repeat this process to track the

antenna for a particular signal.

The target considered here is a transmitter, which transmits a characteristic signal.

There are three receivers located diametrically, horizontally on the antenna. The

receiver connected at the center is considered as main and other two receivers

connected at the extremes of the antenna periphery, to detect the directional

movement of the target.

In the initial condition the antenna rotates on its axis and search for signal once the

target is tracked, that means the central receiver receives the signal, under this

condition the antenna stops as long as the signal is available to the central receiver.

This is the stable state, when the target start moving in any of the direction on the

horizontal plane the signal disappear from the central receiver, this condition is

monitored by the controller and the extreme receivers are activated and the direction of
movement is detected. Accordingly signals are issued to rotate the antenna to chase

the target until it gets tracked.

INTRODUCTION:
The development of electronically steerable, automatically self-directing,

antennas is described here is a small and tiny antenna which is mounted on the missile

to guide the missile to the target. This type of antenna is used for guiding the target

when the it changes its direction. When a missile or shut is fired to a target object the

missile approaches the target, in the mean while if the target changes its direction then

the missile should follow the target instead of misfiring. This type of antenna can be

used at the boarder areas to detect and enemy planes and track its movement. This

antenna can chase the target and acquire information regarding the target. This type of

antenna is very useful for application in defense purpose.

The target guided Antenna is designed with a microcontroller based system to control a

parabolic antenna to observe the movement of the target. This project is designed with

the concept of close loop control system and artificial memory. In the real application

when a target need to be chased and tracked this type of antenna may be used. Missile

firing system and RADAR system may use this type of antenna for its application.
The transmitter and receiver are designed for a particular type of modulated signal

having a particular characteristic. In this prototype the receiver is designed to receive

IR signal. A IR transmitter is used for transmitting 40KHz modulated signal as a source

of signal and an IR receiver is used for receiving the same modulated signal. So the

prototype antenna developed here acts as a Infra-Red signal guided Antenna.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE
This project is designed on the principle of feedback control system. The control

system designed here to control the movement of a stepper motor. The receivers /

sensors are used in this project is sensitive to Infra- red signal. The parabolic antenna

designed here consisting of three sensors arranged as shown in the figure below.
The center, left and right sensors are connected to the micro controller and process the

signal after receiving those. The receivers receive infrared signal and feed to the micro

controller after conditioning.

In this project on starting condition the antenna remains stationary and wait until the

target comes into the proximity of any of the sensor, once the sensor detects the target

the target moves until the target is aligned with center. After the target get aligned with

center the antenna moves in the same direction as the target moves and the antenna

movement continue until the antenna center again aligned with the targeted.