The Sonic Simulator is currently being used to generate collimated coherent sonic beams to verify that the beam divergence and sidelobe characteristics are in satisfactory agreement with the aperture illumination equations which have been used to define the SPS microwave beam. FIGURE 1 SONIC SPS PHASE CONTROL SIMULATOR MAJOR FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS The concept of "ground based" phase control implies a closed loop phase control system which makes corrections in deviations in SPS beam pointing and focusing from ground based measurements of the received power beam. In other words, ground based phase control is a servo control system which like any servo system has a measureable transfer function, frequency response, step response, noise factor, resolution, loop stability, etc. Novar is using its interferometer phase control technique to focus and point the sound beam^. The open and closed loop characteristics of the Sonic Simulator will be measured. A descriptive servo loop diagram and transfer function will be developed and all measured characteristics will be tested for agreement with control system theory. The next step will then be to analyze and mitigate the effects of unwanted interfering inputs such as air currents in the laboratory and the reflection of the sonic beam off walls.
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