Optimization design of the side-lobes effect compensation structure in a weak star simulator

The side-lobe effect is a critical factor that limits the high-precision calibration of small targets using weak star simulators. To mitigate this issue, this study analyzes the key factors influencing the side-lobe effect, clarifies the design principles for correcting the side-lobe effect, and develops an initial free-form surface SCA structure with uniform illumination and collimation properties. A joint evaluation function for both uniformity and collimation is established, and integrated with a hybrid particle swarm optimization algorithm to form a dynamic node-based iterative optimization process for the multi-parameter free-form surface SCA design. Simulation results indicate that, after optimization, the irradiation uniformity of the star field generated by the free-form surface SCA-based weak star simulator improves by a factor of 1.5, while the positional simulation error of star points is reduced by 28.4%.