OPTICAL SENSOR FOR MEASURING THE DEFORMATION WITH TIME OF A DEFORMABLE PLANAR STRUCTURE

摘要

The invention pertains to the measurement of the deformation of large-size planar surfaces exposed to environmental conditions that may impair their flatness. The measuring device of the invention includes a laser optical source that irradiates a conical mirror provided on the surface to be measured, at a reference point arranged so as to define an optical reference plane having a known orientation relative to the antenna plane. It also comprises lineic optical sensors that are transparent to radio-electric waves and are distributed on the antenna surface, each sensor being adapted so as to intercept the optical beam defining the reference plane and to send to processing means an optical signal based on the area of the sensor having intercepted the optical beam. The position variation of the interception point on the sensor is used for measuring the position variation relative to the optical plane of the surface point on which it is positioned. The invention can particularly be used for the measurement of mechanical deformations of the radiating surface of large-size electronic-scanning radar antennas.