A top‑floor antenna tower (top floor antena ) is a high‑performance structural element indispensable for the operation of some modern telecommunications satellites (Fig. 1). These structures must not only maintain the perfect orientation of reflectors, waveguides, and signal receivers over a wide temperature range, but also withstand the enormous accelerations during launch.

Typically, these towers are manufactured from sandwich‑type composite panels or carbon fiber laminates. However, lattice designs made from carbon fiber tubes are gaining increasing importance due to their high versatility and considerable weight reductions (Fig. 2).

To evaluate these advantages, in the Master’s thesis (TFM) of Alejandro Fitera‑Orozco*, a tubular lattice reflector tower was designed based on the specifications of a commercial telecommunications satellite. After a detailed initial topological optimization to determine the most suitable tube configuration, various theoretical alternatives for joint assemblies were designed and evaluated.

As a proof of concept, Anisopter Insightful Research in collaboration with the team of Jorge Vilanova (Airbus DS), has designed a topologically optimized node model intended to facilitate the assembly of the TFM tower. The image shows several views of one of the nodes and a photo of a plastic‑built prototype.

After proper development, we expect that the versatility and efficiency of our topologically optimized nodes, combined with their assembly system, will be key to achieving significant weight reductions and promoting the use of lattice structures in aerospace applications. fomentar el uso de las estructuras de celosía en aplicaciones aeroespaciales.

Figure 4. Syracuse-4 military telecommunications satellite. Source: Airbus

Figure 5.Assembly prototype.

* Structural optimization of a top floor antenna.  Alejandro Fitera-Orozco. UC3M master thesis (2021).