Peakup Holdoff; Peakup Step Sizes; Peakup Algorithm - RESEARCH CONCEPTS RC2000A DUAL AXIS Instructions Manual

2.1.2 Peakup Holdoff

When a peakup is initiated the controller will either immediately look for signal strength and begin a
peakup OR it will enter a 5 second wait interval depending on the value of the Peakup Holdoff Interval
CONFIG mode item. If the Peakup Holdoff Interval has a value of 0 the controller will begin a peakup
operation if the controller's signal strength input is greater than the AGC C Band Threshold (if a C band
satellite was the target of the automatic move) or AGC K Band Threshold (if a Ku band satellite was the
target of the automatic move). If the Peakup Holdoff Interval is set to zero and signal strength above
the appropriate 'Threshold is not available, the controller will not perform a peakup operation.
If the value of Peakup Holdoff Interval is 1 or greater (up to a maximum value of 300 seconds), at the
conclusion of the automatic move the controller will enter a 5 second wait interval. During this 5 second
interval, 'PEAKUP SETTLE' will be displayed on the bottom row of the controller's LCD (liquid crystal
display). The purpose of this interval is to allow the AGC input signal to settle. After the SETTLE
interval, the controller looks for signal strength. If signal strength is available the controller immediately
initiates a peakup. If signal strength is not available, the controller will display 'PEAKUP HOLDOFF:
XXX'. XXX is initially the value of the Peakup Holdoff Interval CONFIG mode item (in seconds), it is
decremented once each second. If signal strength becomes available before the timer expires (reaches
zero) a peakup will occur, otherwise, a peakup will not occur.

2.1.3 Peakup Step Sizes

The most important peakup related CONFIG mode items are C Band Azim Step Size, C Band Elev Step
Size, Ku Band Azim Step Size, and Ku Band Elev Step Size.

2.2 Peakup Algorithm

When a peakup occurs, the controller first peaks the antenna in elevation and then is azimuth. Here is
how the peakup occurs for the elevation axis (the azimuth axis is similar) ...
Measure the signal strength at the starting position (average for 3 seconds).
The antenna is jogged up (or azimuth CW for azimuth peakups) by an amount equal to either the C
Band El Step Size position counts or the K Band El Step Size position counts, depending of the
frequency band of the satellite (In SETUP mode the user specifies the satellite frequency band as either
C, Ku, or C and Ku. For a 'C and Ku' band satellite the user is prompted to specify the frequency band
before automatic moves occur. Older versions of software did not allow the user to specify the satellite
band from SETUP mode. For those controllers the user is always prompted for C or Ku band. Note
that it is possible to edit the controller's satellite data entry in non-volatile memory to specify a satellite
band, see section 3.6).
At the conclusion of the move the controller will measure the signal strength (again averaging for 3
seconds).
If the signal strength measured at the conclusion of the upward movement (measured in step 2) is
greater than the signal strength measured at the starting position (measured in step 1) the controller will
make another step upward and again measure the signal strength. This process will continue until the
controller makes a step that results in weaker signal strength or an error occurs (errors are described in
section 3.3). When weaker signal strength is detected the controller backup one step – the peakup of
the elevation axis is complete.
If the signal strength at the conclusion of the upward step is weaker than that of the starting position, the
controller will return starting position and measure the signal strength again.
The controller will make a step downward and measure the signal strength. If the signal strength
measured at the conclusion of the downward step is weaker than that at the starting position, the
controller will return to the starting position and the peaking process ends.
If the signal strength measured at the conclusion of the downward step is greater than that measured at
the starting position (measured in step 3) the controller will make another step downward and again
measure the signal strength. This process will continue until the controller makes a step that results in
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