An automated assembly technology for large mobile radar antenna

Purpose Large-scale mobile radars are still erected manually by using lifting equipment, which often fails to meet the requirements on precision, quality and efficiency in the erecting process. This paper aims to introduce techniques for automatic assembly of large mobile radar antenna. Design/methodology/approach A large-scale metrology system for accurate identification of the positions and orientation of the radar antenna components is presented. A novel three-degree-of-freedom parallel mechanism is designed to realize orientation adjustment of three axes synchronous, and, thus guarantees the efficiency and accuracy of positioning process. Findings The system described in this paper is practicable in outdoor environment and provides a holistic solution that gives full consideration of the operation conditions and the environmental influences. In performance evaluation tests, the measured absolute accuracy is less than ±1 mm and repeatability is less than ±0.5 mm in the positioning task for 10 × 3 m large antenna. Originality/value This paper presents a new concept of an automatic assembly technology for the large radar antenna application.