Abstract The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) will be the largest radio telescope in the world. The surface tolerance of the main reflector is one of the most important parameters for evaluating the performance of the telescope. The relationship between the reflector's surface tolerance and the curvature of FAST reflector panels is analyzed and discussed. According to the calculation of reflector tolerance and antenna gain, an optimized panel shape for minimum surface tolerance and maximum gain is derived. The far field pattern of the FAST telescope is presented while the optimized shape is utilized for reflector panels. The results show that FAST could be operated at a frequency band of 8 GHz or even higher with an acceptable efficiency.
Keywords telescopes — reflector panel — antenna tolerance
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