Estimation of the Coordinates of an Unmanned Aircraft in the Tasks of Determining the Radiation Pattern of a Satellite Antenna

This paper formulates some problems arising during operation of antennas of earth stations of satellite communication and control. The currently used approaches to calibration of the general transmission coefficient of antenna systems are considered. An approach to measuring the electrical characteristics of the antenna using scanning with a measuring probe placed on board an unmanned aerial vehicle is proposed. The requirements for the software that generates a flight mission for an unmanned aerial vehicle and loads it onto the control panel are formulated. The issues related to the selection of scanning raster parameters and flight conditions are explained. An algorithm is given that allows calculating the coordinates of route points based on the specified scanning raster parameters. The capabilities of the created software for generating a flight mission are clearly shown. A test flight was conducted to test and debug the flight mission generation program. Measurements of the actual coordinates of the unmanned aerial vehicle were carried out using a ground-based optical range-finder (tacheometer) and an optical reflector placed on board in the payload. A two-stage algorithm for processing the obtained coordinate measurements is considered. The results of coordinate measurements were processed and positioning errors were estimated in real operating conditions of the unmanned aerial vehicle flight.