Track-Level-Compensation Look-Up Table Improves Antenna Pointing Precision

This article presents the improvement of the beam-waveguide antenna pointing accuracy due to the implementation of the track-level-compensation look-up table. It presents the development of the table, from the measurements of the inclinometer tilts to the processing of the measurement data and the determination of the threeaxis alidade rotations. The table consists of three axis rotations of the alidade as a function of the azimuth position. The article also presents the equations to determine the elevation and cross-elevation errors of the antenna as a function of the alidade rotations and the antenna azimuth and elevation positions. The table performance was verified using radio beam pointing data. The pointing error decreased from 4.5 mdeg to 1.4 mdeg in elevation and from 14.5 mdeg to 3.1 mdeg in cross-elevation.