Analysis of Methods for Measuring Parameters of the Radiation Pattern of Antenna Systems

Abstract

Measuring the parameters of the antenna pattern is an urgent task in the development and operation of radio engineering systems. This problem can be solved by various methods of antenna measurements. In this case, depending on the radiation zone of the antenna, two main groups of measurement methods are distinguished: methods of direct measurements in the far-field and methods of reconstructive measurements in the near-field. Methods of antenna measurements in the far-field, which allow obtaining direct results, are the most developed and simple, since in the case of the far-field, the angular distribution of the field, regardless of distance, is characterized by a radiation pattern. Methods of the near-field are based on measuring the amplitude-phase distribution of the orthogonal components of the electromagnetic field in the near zone with subsequent recalculation of the parameters and restoration of the spatial radiation pattern of the antenna under study. The comparative analysis of the main groups of antenna measurement methods shows that at the present stage of their development, due to a number of advantages, measurement methods in the near-field with subsequent reconstruction of the radiation pattern of the studied antenna in the far-field are most widely used.