Design of a deployable antenna truss structure with telescopic members

This paper describes a method for building three-dimensional deployable truss structures from the viewpoint of deployment reliability. In this regard a method is proposed for designing a closed-loop deployable truss structure for future large space antennas through a kinematic degree-of-freedom analysis of the mechanical system. Using this method, it is possible to attain a truss structure with the appropriate constraints. We have designed and fabricated a prototype and achieved successful deployment under a microgravity environment yielded by parabolic aircraft flight. Hence, the results have demonstrated the effectiveness of deployable truss design using kinematic degree-of-freedom analysis.