Design and Evaluation on Onboard Antenna Pointing Control System for a Wireless Relay System Using Fixed-Wing UAV

Hamajima, Koki; Yasukawa, Kei; Ueba, Masazumi; Kanou, Hisayoshi; Matsui, Munehiro; Abe, Junichi; Itokawa, Kiyohiko; Yamashita, Fumihiro

doi:10.3390/aerospace10040323

Open AccessArticle

Design and Evaluation on Onboard Antenna Pointing Control System for a Wireless Relay System Using Fixed-Wing UAV

by

Koki Hamajima

¹,

Kei Yasukawa

¹,

Masazumi Ueba

^1,*,

Hisayoshi Kanou

²,

Munehiro Matsui

²,

Junichi Abe

²,

Kiyohiko Itokawa

² and

Fumihiro Yamashita

²

¹

Graduate School, Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran 050-8585, Hokkaido, Japan

²

NTT Access Service System Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Yokosuka 239-0847, Kanagawa, Japan

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Aerospace 2023, 10(4), 323; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10040323

Submission received: 31 October 2022 / Revised: 21 February 2023 / Accepted: 9 March 2023 / Published: 23 March 2023

(This article belongs to the Section Aeronautics)

Download

Browse Figures

Versions Notes

Abstract

Among several usages of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), wireless relay systems for high altitudes using fixed-wing UAVs, or high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), are some of the most promising applications. To realize the systems by making the most of advantages of the long flight duration and endurance of fixed-wing airplanes, this paper proposes an antenna pointing control system using mechanical gimbals onboard a fixed-wing UAV continuously turning midair and describes results of the blocking analysis of the antenna driving angles of the gimbal directed to a ground station, the design of the antenna pointing control system, and the evaluation of its performance. It is confirmed by the evaluation that, though the antenna pointing control accuracy is greatly influenced by the noisy antenna pointing direction command, its accuracy is greatly improved by using the highly accurate RF sensor to detect antenna pointing direction.

Keywords: HAPS; fixed-wing UAV; antenna pointing control system; wireless relay system; two-axis gimbal

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Hamajima, K.; Yasukawa, K.; Ueba, M.; Kanou, H.; Matsui, M.; Abe, J.; Itokawa, K.; Yamashita, F. Design and Evaluation on Onboard Antenna Pointing Control System for a Wireless Relay System Using Fixed-Wing UAV. Aerospace 2023, 10, 323. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10040323

AMA Style

Hamajima K, Yasukawa K, Ueba M, Kanou H, Matsui M, Abe J, Itokawa K, Yamashita F. Design and Evaluation on Onboard Antenna Pointing Control System for a Wireless Relay System Using Fixed-Wing UAV. Aerospace. 2023; 10(4):323. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10040323

Chicago/Turabian Style

Hamajima, Koki, Kei Yasukawa, Masazumi Ueba, Hisayoshi Kanou, Munehiro Matsui, Junichi Abe, Kiyohiko Itokawa, and Fumihiro Yamashita. 2023. "Design and Evaluation on Onboard Antenna Pointing Control System for a Wireless Relay System Using Fixed-Wing UAV" Aerospace 10, no. 4: 323. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10040323

APA Style

Hamajima, K., Yasukawa, K., Ueba, M., Kanou, H., Matsui, M., Abe, J., Itokawa, K., & Yamashita, F. (2023). Design and Evaluation on Onboard Antenna Pointing Control System for a Wireless Relay System Using Fixed-Wing UAV. Aerospace, 10(4), 323. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10040323

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Design and Evaluation on Onboard Antenna Pointing Control System for a Wireless Relay System Using Fixed-Wing UAV

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI