Mechanical

The mechanical part required using two stepper motors. One for azimuth movement and the other for elevation movement. The motors will be responsible for the movement of the antenna to be facing the satellite orbit.

For the fact that we have moving parts, friction and stresses must be considered in the design. We took that into careful consideration. Our location is Glasgow city and the product will be situated outside most of the time. The environmental factors considered are the windy nature of Glasgow (design should have less drag and have sound aerodynamics) and the wet nature of Scotland (consider the material to avoid rust and damage).

The overall weight and availability of materials contributed to the final desicion of using a 3D printed plastic parts. These can be durable when designed right and has less weight, cheaper & faster to manufacture and accessible to alot of people. As for fastners, M3 and M2.5 were a good fit for the application.