Mechanical engineering, and engineering discipline born of the needs of
the industrial revolution, is once again asked to do its substantial
share in the call for industrial renewal. The general call is urgent as
we face profound issues of productivity and competitiveness that require
engineering solutions, among others. The Mechanical Engineering Series
is a series featuring graduate texts and research monographs intended to
address the need for information in contemporary areas of mechanical
engineering. The series is conceived as a comprehensive one that covers
a broad range of c- centrations important to mechanical engineering
graduate education and research. We are fortunate to have a
distinguished roster of series editors, each an expert in one of the
areas of concentration. The names of the series editors are listed on
page vi of this volume. The areas of concentration are applied
mechanics, biomechanics, computational mechanics, dynamic systems and
control, energetics, mechanics of materials, processing, thermal
science, and tribology. Preface This book is based on my experience with
the control systems of antennas and radiotelescopes. Overwhelmingly, it
is based on experience with the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas.
It includes modeling the antennas, developing control algorithms, eld
testing, system identi cation, performance evaluation, and 1
troubleshooting. My previous book emphasized the theoretical aspects of
antenna control engineering, while this one describes the application
part of the antenna control engineering.
