Mechanical Design and Control of the TUD-ESA Spherical Near-Field Antenna Test Facility at Lyngby, Denmark

Abstract

A fully automatic spherical near-field antenna test facility designed for space applications has been implemented in the radio anechoic chamber of the Technical University of Denmark (TUD). The facility was developed jointly with the European Space Agency (ESA). In 1979 the first manually controlled facility was in operation. Later, in 1984, a second, fully automatic and improved version of the facility was implemented, and in 1985 the frequency range was extended to 40 GHz. Since then, efforts have continued to be made to improve the capabilities. The paper deals with the development, design, control and implementation of the mechanical system consisting of a new high-precision elevation over azimuth positioner and a probe tower. The facility is intended for measurements of antennas with diameters up to 6.7 m within a frequency range of 1.7–40 GHz. The measurement accuracies and some typical measurement results are described.