Automatization of Antenna Measurements in the Anechoic Chamber

Abstract

Anechoic chambers are used for obtaining exact results of small-sized antennas parameters measurements. Such measurements in anechoic chambers are a complex and lengthy process with the usage of costly equipment. The accuracy increasing and measures time reducing are reached by automatization of measuring processes. The paper presents the results of hardware and software system development for antennas measurements on the base of the anechoic chamber of National Aerospace University Kharkiv Aviation Institute, Kharkiv, Ukraine. The anechoic chamber with a volume of 28 m3 via the adjustable diaphragms for reducing the level of wall reflections ensures the anechoic zone with a volume of 1 m3 at the level of -30 dB on the distance of 3 meters from measuring antennas in the frequency range from 8.5 GHz to 12.6 GHz. The object is installed on a remotely controlled rotary support made of an RF transparent material which provides fixation of the object position in space and its uniform rotation in the horizontal plane by 360°. Transceiver, measure equipment, controlling and information processing apparatus are placed outside the camera. The paper considers the structure of measuring complex, features of measurement technique and processing their results, presents an example of the results of measuring the antenna pattern of the small-sized horn antenna of the X-band.