Abstract: A pretension design method of the cable network for asymmetric offset-feed mesh reflector antennas considering the influence of the truss flexible deformation on the equilibrium state of cable networks was presented.In this method，the mesh reflector antenna was divided into two parts：the internal cable network and the external truss.Through continuous iterations between the pretension of the cable network and the deformation of the external truss，a set of optimal pretension can be found based on satisfying the equilibrium state of the whole structure.Compared with the conventional pretension design method based on rigid truss assumption，this method can fully consider the compatible deformation between the external truss and the internal cable network to obtain a high surface accuracy reflector.This method can effectively avoid the tension readjustment to save manpower and material resources and applies to the pretension design for asymmetric offset-feed mesh reflector antenna.The case studies illustrate the necessity of considering the truss flexibility in the pretension design and demonstrate the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Key words: mesh reflector antenna, surface accuracy, truss deformation, cable net structure, pretension design