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.     

Imaging and Analysis of THz Surface Plasmon Polariton Waves with the Integrated Sub-wavelength Aperture Probe

We demonstrate that the integrated sub-wavelength aperture probe designed for THz near-field scanning probe microscopy can be used to map surface plasmon waves at THz frequencies. Observed near-field images of metallic patterns reveal surface plasmon waves superimposed over THz transmission images. We discuss the coupling mechanism for the surface waves and arrive to an important conclusion that the detected surface wave images represent the spatial derivative of the surface plasmon electric field. The relationship between the electric field and the measured signal is confirmed experimentally by mapping surface waves in bow-tie antennas. This study explains previously observed effects in THz near-field microscopy and provides a framework for analysis of near-field images.     

Multilevel Plane Wave Based Near-Field Far-Field Transformation for Electrically Large Antennas in Free-Space or Above Material Halfspace

A recently presented fully probe-corrected near-field far-field transformation employing plane wave expansion and diagonal translation operators enables near-field far-field transformation for arbitrary measurement contours and arbitrary antennas. A multilevel extension, inspired by the multilevel fast multipole method, is presented that is suitable for the efficient transformation of electrically large antennas with a size of tens or even hundreds of wavelengths. The measurement points are grouped in a multilevel fashion and translations are carried out to the box centers on the highest level only. The plane waves are processed through the different levels to the measurement points using a disaggregation and anterpolation procedure resulting in a reduced overall complexity. In the second part of this paper, the influence of perfectly conducting ground planes and dielectric halfspaces, as an approximation for ground effects in a real measurement setup, is investigated. As such ground reflected waves are assumed, which propagate from the investigated antenna to the field probe and add to the direct wave contributions. The far-field conditions required for these assumptions are achieved by a source box grouping scheme. By this extension ground effects are directly considered within the near-field far-field transformation. Transformation results using simulated and measured near-field data are shown.      

Reduction of Truncation Errors in Planar Near-Field Aperture Antenna Measurements Using the Gerchberg-Papoulis Algorithm

A simple and effective procedure for the reduction of truncation errors in planar near-field measurements of aperture antennas is presented. The procedure relies on the consideration that, due to the scan plane truncation, the calculated plane wave spectrum of the field radiated by the antenna is reliable only within a certain portion of the visible region. Accordingly, the truncation error is reduced by extrapolating the remaining portion of the visible region by the Gerchberg-Papoulis iterative algorithm, exploiting a condition of spatial concentration of the fields on the antenna aperture plane. The proposed procedure is simple and computationally efficient; it does not require any modification of the measurement procedure and it allows for the usual probe correction. Far-field patterns reconstructed from both simulated and measured truncated near-field data demonstrate its effectiveness and stability against measurement inaccuracies.      

平面波谱恢复算法在平面近场测量中的应用

介绍用于天线平面近场测量的一种近远场变换新算法。该法利用被测天线的平面波谱和口径场幅相分布之间的关系,以及天线口面的约束条件,用G-P迭代算法从平面波谱的置信谱域部分恢复出置信谱域外的平面波谱。这种方法减小了较小截断角下有限扫描面对测量精度的影响,并提高了天线近场测量的效率。     

Radial field retrieval in spherical scanning for currentreconstruction and NF-FF transformation

A near-field to far-field (NF-FF) transformation is addressed for the case of spherical scanning using equivalent magnetic currents (EMCs) and matrix methods. It is based on the decoupling of the field components and the iterative retrieval of the radial component of the electric field. The technique is applied for far-field calculation as well as for the estimation of the current distribution of the antenna under test (AUT) using spherical near-field facilities. Results from measured near-field data of several antennas are presented and compared to those of the analytical solution via a spherical wave mode expansion method     

Planar near-field scanning in the time domain .2. Sampling theoremsand computation schemes

For part 1 see ibid. vol.47, no.9, p.1280 (1994). Two computation schemes for calculating the far-field pattern in the time domain from sampled near-field data are developed and applied. The sampled near-field data consists of the values of the field on the scan plane measured at discrete times and at discrete points on the scan plane. The first computation scheme is based on a frequency-domain near-field to far-field formula and applies frequency-domain sampling theorems to the computed frequency-domain near field. The second computation scheme is based on a time-domain near-field to far-field formula and computes the time-domain far field directly from the time-domain near field. A time-domain sampling theorem is derived to determine the spacing between sample points on the scan plane. The computer time for each of the two schemes is determined and numerical examples illustrate the use and the general properties of the schemes. For large antennas the frequency-domain computation scheme takes less time to compute the full far field than the time-domain computation scheme. However, the time-domain computation scheme is simpler, more direct, and easier to program. It is also found that planar time-domain near-field antenna measurements, unlike single-frequency near-field measurements, have the capability of eliminating the error caused by the finite scan plane, and thus can be applied to broadbeam antennas     

Far-field uncertainty due to random near-field measurement error

Recent planar near-field scanning tests with ultralow-sidelobe antennas have confirmed that random near-field measurement errors will ultimately limit the accuracy of far-field patterns. A formulation is outlined for estimating the spectral signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) arising from noncorrectable near-field random measurement errors. The formulation applies to arbitrarily directive test antennas and probes-even nulling probes. A far-field parameter, called the scan plane coupling factor, may be computed directly from the near-field data, and then used to form the spectral SNR. The accuracy of the spectral SNR is confirmed by simulation and by actual tests with low-sidelobe AWACS array antenna     

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。     

An Effective NF-FF Transformation Technique With Planar Spiral Scanning Tailored For Quasi-Planar Antennas

An effective probe compensated near-field—far-field transformation technique with planar spiral scanning is developed in this paper. It makes use of an ellipsoidal modelling of the source, instead of the previously adopted spherical one. Such a modelling, tailored for quasi-planar antennas, allows one to consider measurement planes at a distance smaller than one half the antenna maximum size, thus reducing the error related to the truncation of the scanning surface. Moreover, it is quite general, containing the spherical modelling as particular case, and reduces significantly the number of the needed near-field data when dealing with quasi planar antennas. Some numerical tests, assessing the accuracy of the technique and its stability with respect to random errors affecting the data, are reported.      

Correction de rotation continue en mesures de champs proches

In near-field techniques applicable to large antennas the measurements are often made through the scanning of a meridian of the desired surface for different orientations of the test antenna. Utilisation of a probe array permits a rapid analysis of the field along that meridian. As shown in this paper, it is not necessary to stop the movement of the antenna during measurements along the meridian, if a simple scheme for continuous rotation of the test antenna is utilised.     

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.     

Rapid near-field antenna testing via arrays of modulated scatteringprobes

Key results are summarized of efforts to significantly reduce the near-field measurement time by utilizing one- or two-dimensional arrays of modulated scattering probes in lieu of the single probe ordinarily used in conventional near-field measurement techniques. Results of analytical, numerical, and experimental investigations show that the modulated-scattering technique (MST) using arrays of hundreds or even thousands of modulated scattering probes can be used to map the complex near-field of antennas or scatterers in a few seconds or minutes. The results also strongly indicate that classical (nonmodulated) receiving/transmitting arrays can be adapted for rapid near-field data collection. Major factors affecting the accuracy and speed of probe arrays for near-field measurement are delineated and discussed. Experimental results obtained using laboratory prototype MST systems are also presented and discussed     

A Near-Field Array of Yagi-Uda Antennas for Electromagnetic-Susceptibility Testing

In electromagnetic-susceptibility testing of electronic equipment, the ideal incident field is a plane wave. To approximate this condition, a seven-element array of Yagi-Uda antennas has been constructed and tested at a frequency of 500 MHz. The element weightings are determined by a near-field synthesis technique, which optimizes the uniformity of the field throughout a rectangular test volume in the near field of the array. The amplitude and phase of the electric field have been measured throughout the test volume with a short-dipole probe, and the agreement with the theory is excellent.     

Characterization of Real-World Steered-Beam Antennas from Amplitude-Only Near-Field Data

Phase-less near-field techniques are becoming increasingly more important for antenna characterization, due to the growing interest in millimeter-and sub-millimeter-wave applications, where the near-field phase is difficult or even impossible to measure. In this framework, the routine application of phase-less near-field/far-field (NFFF) transformations to real-world operational antennas is a challenging problem, recently questioned in the literature, requiring algorithms capable of providing reliable and accurate results over a large class of radiators. In the present paper, the possibility of applying phase-less near-field techniques for routine testing of antennas is discussed. We point out how -following the recent developments in the field, and by a formulation of the problem based on proper representations of unknowns and data - it is possible to gain the reliability and the accuracy required for this. Experimental tests were carried out on steered-beam antennas, which have lately been pointed out as "difficult" workbenches, to test the feasibility of operational phase-less near-field/far-field transformations. The experimental results refer to a reflectarray radiating a tilted beam, and to a phased array of large electrical dimensions, radiating a scanned beam and actually employed in real-world applications.     

A probe for making near-field measurements with minimaldisturbance: the optically modulated scatterer

We describe an optically modulated scatterer as an electric-field probe for measuring radio-frequency and microwave fields. It has a high spatial resolution and the ability to operate very close to conducting and dielectric objects without appreciable distortion of the field to be measured. Thus, it can scan close to antennas and diffracting metal structures. We describe how the electric field is deduced from the measurements and present gain measurements and far-field patterns deduced from near-field scans of antennas. The results are tested by comparing them with those obtained by established measurement techniques     

减小平面近场测量中多次反射误差的新方法

本文给出了用平面近场技术测量超低副瓣天线时,平面近场测量总误差与天线远场方向图副瓣电平的误差方程,并进行了计算机仿真;提出了减小平面近场测量中探头天线与待测天线间多次反射误差和微波暗室电特性误差对超低副瓣天线所引入的测量误差的"自校准法",实验结果说明该方法是解决平面近场测量中多次反射和微波暗室电特性误差较为理想的方法.     

Near- and Far-Field Characterization of Planar mm-Wave Antenna Arrays with Waveguide-to-Microstrip Transition

We present the design and characterization of planar mm-wave patch antenna arrays with waveguide-to-microstrip transition using both near- and far-field methods. The arrays were designed for metrological assessment of error sources in antenna measurement. One antenna was designed for the automotive radar frequency range at 77 GHz, while another was designed for the frequency of 94 GHz, which is used, e.g., for imaging radar applications. In addition to the antennas, a simple transition from rectangular waveguide WR-10 to planar microstrip line on Rogers 3003? substrate has been designed based on probe coupling. For determination of the far-field radiation pattern of the antennas, we compare results from two different measurement methods to simulations. Both a far-field antenna measurement system and a planar near-field scanner with near-to-far-field transformation were used to determine the antenna diagrams. The fabricated antennas achieve a good matching and a good agreement between measured and simulated antenna diagrams. The results also show that the far-field scanner achieves more accurate measurement results with regard to simulations than the near-field scanner. The far-field antenna scanning system is built for metrological assessment and antenna calibration. The antennas are the first which were designed to be tested with the measurement system.     

一种快速测量和诊断相控阵天线的新方法

介绍了一种测量相控阵天线的新方法——换相测量法,给出了该方法的数学模型及其基于最优配相控制的解。该方法新的特点是被测天线和探头均固定不动,仅要求对天线各单元的配相进行控制,实际上是用电扫描方法来代替传统的机械扫描的方法,能大大提高测试的效率和精度。该方法充分利用了相控阵天线本身的结构信息和特点,能大大减小相控阵天线的测量和诊断时间,对测试环境的要求也较低,因此具有很强的实用性。本文模拟了应用该方法测量和故障诊断的全过程,模拟结果表明,该方法是正确、快速有效的。