The Novel Method for Deployable Parabolic Reflector Based On Uchiwa Origami

In this paper the authors proposed a novel method for the deploying parabolic reflector antenna (PRA). The idea of the same comes from the Japanese silk fan called Uchiwa. The PRA is designed for 2.45 GHz frequency of operation with F/ D = 0.5 having diameter (D) = 1.3 m. The PRA surface is broken down in 18 segments. While deployment, the first segment is fixed and the other segments are moved in the steps of 20° with the help of stepper motor. For the fully deployability, the segments are attached at the back with the closing and opening V-shaped hinge. The proposed method uses mechanical robust items rather than the spring mechanism, thus making it more reliable solution for the deployment. For lower D of 0.5 m and same F / D ratio, the volume occupied by the structure is less than 1.5 U (10 × 10 × 15 cm 3 ).