Masts are most commonly used in microwave communications to elevate signals over

any obstructions. Masts can be designed in a number of ways depending on the

application. The most significant advantage of the masts discussed in this chapter over

telescoping masts is that they are self deployable.

1.2.1 Rod Controlled Deployment of Eight Stage Mast
 This mast developed by Watt and Pellegrino [2], as shown in Figure 1-1, has a

diameter of 0.23 m, height of 1.27 m and 0.27 m long struts made of 0.006 m diameter

aluminum tubes connected by a pair of 0.019 m wide tape springs.








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 "t ,
 .., ".


Figure 1-1. Rod controlled deployment of eight stage mast