Linear spiral sampling for the bipolar planar near-field antennameasurement technique

This paper investigates linear spiral sampling for bipolar planar near-field antenna measurements. This sampling scheme is, depending on range implementation, the most rapid polar near-filed data acquisition mode. The near-field to far-field transformation is performed using a modified optimal sampling interpolation (OSI)/fast Fourier transform (FFT) approach. Measured far-field pattern results for a waveguide-fed slot array antenna are presented and are shown to have excellent agreement with results obtained from a conventional bipolar measurement     

Application of spherical near-field measurements to microwaveholographic diagnosis of antennas

Microwave diagnosis of antennas is considered as a viable tool for the determination of reflector surface distortions and location of defective radiating elements of array antennas. A hybrid technique based on the combination of the spherical near-field measurements and holographic metrology reconstruction is presented. The measured spherical near-field data are first used to construct the far-field amplitude and phase patterns of the antenna on specified regularized u-v coordinates. These data are then utilized in the surface profile reconstruction of the holographic technique using a fast-Fourier-transform (FFT)/iterative approach. Results of an experiment using a 156-cm reflector antenna measured at 11.3 GHz are presented for both the original antenna and the antenna with four attached bumps. Several contour and gray-scaled plots are presented for the reconstructed surface profiles of the measured antennas. The recovery effectiveness of the attached bumps has been demonstrated. The hybrid procedure presented is used to assess the achieved accuracy of the holographic reconstruction technique because of its ability to determine very accurate far-field amplitude and phase data from the spherical near-field measurements     

Spatial sampling and filtering in near-field measurements

A sample spacing criterion and a data minimization technique for measurements made over the surface of a plane in the near field of an antenna are presented. The sample spacing is shown to depend on the distance from the antenna to the measurement plane, and on the extent to which evanescent waves can be neglected. The near-field data minimization technique utilizes two-dimensional spatial filtering to effect a significant reduction in computational effort required to calculate selected portions of the far-field pattern. Far-field patterns of anXband antenna calculated from near-field measurements are presented and compared with those measured on a standard far-field range. The far-field calculations are repeated for several near-field sample spacings and for various post-filter sample rates.     

Near-field to near/far-field transformation for arbitrarynear-field geometry utilizing an equivalent electric current andMoM

Presented here is a method for computing near- and far-field patterns of an antenna from its near-field measurements taken over an arbitrarily shaped geometry. This method utilizes near-field data to determine an equivalent electric current source over a fictitious surface which encompasses the antenna. This electric current, once determined, can be used to ascertain the near and the far field. This method demonstrates the concept of analytic continuity, i.e., once the value of the electric field is known for one region in space, from a theoretical perspective, its value for any other region can be extrapolated. It is shown that the equivalent electric current produces the correct fields in the regions in front of the antenna regardless of the geometry over which the near-field measurements are made. In this approach, the measured data need not satisfy the Nyquist sampling criteria. An electric field integral equation is developed to relate the near field to the equivalent electric current. A moment method procedure is employed to solve the integral equation by transforming it into a matrix equation. A least-squares solution via singular value decomposition is used to solve the matrix equation. Computations with both synthetic and experimental data, where the near field of several antenna configurations are measured over various geometrical surfaces, illustrate the accuracy of this method     

Control of scattering from probes for near-field antenna measurements by use of skirt

A novel approach to reducing the multiple reflections between the test antenna and the probe in near-field antenna measurements is proposed. Instead of absorbers, this approach makes use of a skirt on the probe to shield against the mounting structure behind the probe.     

Far-field patterns of spaceborne antennas from plane-polar near-field measurements

Certain unique features of a recently constructed plane-polar near-field measurement facility for determining the far-field patterns of large and fragile spaceborne antennas are described. In this facility, the horizontally positioned antenna rotates about its axis while the measuring probe is advanced incrementally in a fixed radial direction. The near-field measured data is then processed using a Jacobi-Bessel expansion to obtain the antenna far fields. A summary of the measurement and computational steps is given. Comparisons between the outdoor far-field measurements and the constructed far-field patterns from the near-field measured data are provided for different antenna sizes and frequencies. Application of the substitution method for the absolute gain measurement is discussed. In particular, results are shown for the 4.8-m mesh-deployable high-gain antenna of the Galileo spacecraft which has the mission of orbiting Jupiter in 1988.     

Planar near-field to far-field transformation using an equivalentmagnetic current approach

An alternative method is presented for computing far-field antenna patterns from near-field measurements. The method utilizes the near-field data to determine equivalent magnetic current sources over a fictitious planar surface that encompasses the antenna, and these currents are used to ascertain the far fields. Under certain approximations, the currents should produce the correct far fields in all regions in front of the antenna regardless of the geometry over which the near-field measurements are made. An electric field integral equation (EFIE) is developed to relate the near fields to the equivalent magnetic currents. The method of moments is used to transform the integral equation into a matrix one. The matrix equation is solved with the conjugate gradient method, and in the case of a rectangular matrix, a least-squares solution for the currents is found without explicitly computing the normal form of the equation. Near-field to far-field transformation for planar scanning may be efficiently performed under certain conditions. Numerical results are presented for several antenna configurations     

Prediction of far-field from uniform and non-uniform under-sampled near-field data in planar near-field antenna measurements

In near-field antenna measurements various forms of uniform and non-uniform sampling techniques have been widely deployed. Considering the fact that the near-field pattern of any antenna is a spatially quasi-band-width-limited function of space coordinates, Shannon's theorem simply defines the sampling frequency. Based on the sampling theorem, in order to precisely reconstruct a band-limited signal from its samples, the sampling frequency must be at least twice as much as the signal's bandwidth. Through the simulations and theoretical evaluations this research shows that if the near-field pattern is either uniformly or non-uniformly under-sampled due to any practical reasons, yet a good estimation of far-field pattern can be obtained especially if the antenna under test (AUT) is a directive high-gain or super high-gain antenna. Also the time efficiency of far-field prediction from under-sampled near-field data is discussed and the advantages and disadvantages are highlighted.     

Fully Probe-Corrected Near-Field Far-Field Transformation Employing Plane Wave Expansion and Diagonal Translation Operators

Near-field antenna measurements combined with a near-field far-field transformation are an established antenna characterization technique. The approach avoids far-field measurements and offers a wide area of post-processing possibilities including radiation pattern determination and diagnostic methods. In this paper, a near-field far-field transformation algorithm employing plane wave expansion is presented and applied to the case of spherical near-field measurements. Compared to existing algorithms, this approach exploits the benefits of diagonalized translation operators, known from fast multipole methods. Due to the plane wave based field representation, a probe correction, using directly the probe's far-field pattern can easily be integrated into the transformation. Hence, it is possible to perform a full probe correction for arbitrary field probes with almost no additional effort. In contrast to other plane wave techniques, like holographic projections, which are suitable for highly directive antennas, the presented approach is applicable for arbitrary radiating structures. Major advantages are low computational effort with respect to the coupling matrix elements owing to the use of diagonalized translation operators and the efficient correction of arbitrary field probes. Also, irregular measurement grids can be handled with little additional effort.     

Evaluation des cadences de mesure de champs proches au moyen de sondes modulées

The problems involved in the direct far-field measurements of large antennas have led to the development of the near-field measurement technique. According to this method, the far-field pattern of the antenna is calculated from the near-field measurements close to the antenna. The only inconvenience in this technique is the slow rate of measurements. This slowness is due to the mechanical displacement of the measuring probe or the test antenna. The modulated scattering technique is a method to reduce the measurement time while preserving acceptable levels of accuracy. This article is mainly concerned with estimating the possible measurement rates in typical configurations.     

Near-field gain calibration for large spherical antennas

In the near field of the Arecibo spherical antenna radar system, i.e., at ranges less than about 260 km, the gain is a function of range and a knowledge of gain is necessary for deducing electron-density information from the power backscattered from the ionosphere. A method of obtaining the phase taper across the aperture (and hence the near-field on-axis and backscatter gains versus range), given a knowledge of the far-field on-axis gain versus frequency, and the amplitude of the illumination over the aperture is suggested. Our studies show that measurements of on-axis far-field gain over a bandwidth ofpm7MHz are adequate to give an accurate indication of on-axis gain versus range in the near field, while apm15MHz frequency spread is needed to give accurate information on the backscatter gain versus range. The near-field correction for the antenna has also been estimated from measurements made on a model of the new line feed. Confidence in the validity of this approach has been obtained by comparing the measured far-field on-axis gain versus frequency with that calculated using the data from the model feed.     

基于Gerchberg-Papoulis算法的平面近场截断误差修正方法研究

在平面近场天线测量中,有限扫描面截断是影响测量精度的主要误差源之一,找到解决截断误差的方法是天线测量的研究重点之一.文中将平面近场天线测量中由有限区域内的场求平面波谱的过程抽象为带限函数外推的数学模型,从实际测量中的近远场变换理论出发,论证了GP（Gerchberg-Papoulis）算法应用在平面近场测量中在理论上是切实可行的.将GP算法应用在平面近场天线测量中,并分析了不同迭代次数算法的修正情况.结果表明,随着算法迭代次数的增多,可信角域外计算方向图与理论方向图差别明显减小.因此,本文的方法能够明显减小平面近场测量中截断误差的影响.除此以外,还分析了误差对算法收敛性的影响,结果表明,误差对算法修正效果影响较大.     

Probe uncompensated near-field to far-field transformation for scanning over an arbitrary surface

A new technique of transforming the probe uncompensated near-field data to the near or far field is presented, which is useful in nearfield antenna measurements, when the probe antenna scans over an arbitrary surface enclosing the test antenna. The technique presented is analytically simple and sufficiently accurate.     

窗函数在相控阵天线平面近场测量中的应用

有限扫描面截断是影响天线平面近场测量精度的主要误差源之一，尤其是对于波束扫描的相控阵天线的平面近场测量更是如此。为了减小相控阵天线平面近场测量中的有限扫描面截断误差，介绍了余弦窗函数并将其应用到相控阵天线平面近场测量中。计算机模拟结果表明，通过对近场进行加余弦窗的数据处理能够有效地减小有限扫描面截断误差。提出了对近场数据进行加余弦窗处理的适用条件。     

一种减小相控阵天线球面近场测量截断误差的方法

在相控阵天线球面近场测量中,有限扫描面和相控阵天线波束扫描将会引起较大的截断误差.为了解决这一问题,提出利用基于遗传算法参数优化的余弦窗函数对近场数据进行加权处理的方法来有效减小截断误差.以半波振子组成的矩形平面阵作为待测天线,对相控阵天线球面近场测量进行了计算机模拟.模拟结果表明,通过对近场数据进行加余弦窗的处理并用遗传算法对参数进行优化能够大大减小相控阵天线波束扫描时的有限扫描面截断误差,从而证实了文中所提出方法的正确性和有效性.     

Near-field diagnostics of small printed antennas using theequivalent magnetic current approach

A near-field to far-field transformation based on the antenna representation by equivalent magnetic current (EMC) sources has been proposed and validated experimentally on large high-directivity antenna arrays. In this paper, the use of EMC is extended to the diagnostics of low-directivity printed antennas. The limitation of the near-field to far-field transformation applied to EMC models of low-directivity antennas, caused by the finite dimensions of the antenna ground plane, is demonstrated. A method to partially overcome this limitation by including the contribution of diffracted rays is implemented, and its effectiveness is demonstrated with antenna prototypes. It is shown that the agreement between the far-field patterns measured in an anechoic chamber and the patterns computed from the EMC model obtained from the near-field measurements is significantly improved upon, within a sector of ±90° with respect to the antenna boresight in the E plane. The influence of the near-field sampling density and topology of the EMC model on the accuracy of the predicted far-field pattern is examined     

Transmitter Architectures Based on Near-Field Direct Antenna Modulation

A near-field direct antenna modulation (NFDAM) technique is introduced, where the radiated far-field signal is modulated by time-varying changes in the antenna near-field electromagnetic (EM) boundary conditions. This enables the transmitter to send data in a direction-dependent fashion producing a secure communication link. Near-field direct antenna modulation (NFDAM) can be performed by using either switches or varactors. Two fully-integrated proof-of-concept NFDAM transmitters operating at 60 GHz using switches and varactors are demonstrated in silicon proving the feasibility of this approach.      

脉冲参数对脉冲天线测量的影响

研究了脉冲参数及其对测量的影响,根据时域场的平面波理论,给出了根据惠更斯源得到的时、频域远场方向图以及近远场变换公式。最后根据实测结果具体分析了脉冲天线测量中脉冲参数的选择要求。     

Spherical near-field scanning at the Technical University ofDenmark

The early work (1969-79) on spherical near-field antenna measurements at the Technical University of Denmark (TUD) is outlined. A spherical near-field transmission formula is described and the first probe-corrected spherical near-field measurements are discussed. The TUD-ESA (European Space Agency) joint effort on spherical near-field testing is also described     

An overview of near-field antenna measurements

After a brief history of near-field antenna measurements with and without probe correction, the theory of near-field antenna measurements is outlined beginning with ideal probes scanning on arbitrary surfaces and ending with arbitrary probes scanning on planar, cylindrical, and spherical surfaces. Probe correction is introduced for all three measurement geometries as a slight modification to the ideal probe expressions. Sampling theorems are applied to determine the required data-point spacing, and efficient computational methods along with their computer run times are discussed. The major sources of experimental error defining the accuracy of typical planar near-field measurement facilities are reviewed, and present limitations of planar, cylindrical, and spherical near-field scanning are identified.