Abstract
Abstract. Near-field measurements are commonly performed in anechoic chambers which limits the flexibility of the measurements and requires high precision equipment to achieve exact results. In this contribution, we investigate a simple near-field measurement setup which does not use any sophisticated positioning system nor operates in a controlled environment. Instead, the probe antenna is moved by an operator person while the probe position is measured by a laser tracker. This implies that the measurement results will have a higher error level in comparison with antenna chamber measurements. However, excellent error levels are not always necessary, especially when it comes to on-site testing of the principle functionality of antennas. Measurement results are shown to illustrate the performance of the system.
Highlights
Antennas are usually characterized in terms of their far-field (FF) radiation pattern
Such NF measurements are usually performed in anechoic chambers, since this echo free measurement environment is an acceptable approximation of free space
A key enabler of portable and flexible measurement solutions with irregular measurement locations and measurement probe orientations is the availability of an appropriate NF to FF transformation (NFFFT) algorithm, which is able to handle the collected measurement data
Summary
Antennas are usually characterized in terms of their far-field (FF) radiation pattern. An efficient method to obtain the pattern involves near-field (NF) measurements from which the FF can be calculated by a NF to FF transformation (NFFFT) (Yaghjian, 1986; Gregson et al, 2007; Parini et al, 2014) Such NF measurements are usually performed in anechoic chambers, since this echo free measurement environment is an acceptable approximation of free space. A very sophisticated measurement system for high-quality measurements of antennas in assembly halls by utilizing an overhead crane is described in Geise et al (2019) This system works with a measurement gondola positioned by the overhead crane where the exact position and orientation of the measurement probe is determined by a 6D laser tracking device.
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