Spatial noise filtering in magnetocardiographic measurements

A mathematical approach to construction of spatial filters for multisensor measuring systems that uses the available prior information on the behavior of the fields being measured is described. The application of spatial filtering to the inverse problem of restoration of the local dipole’s parameters in the presence of the noise field from distant sources is shown.     

Aperture sampling requirements in planar near-field and patterncalculations

The paper covers a simple idea. If we sample an aperture, we can obtain valid patterns over a limited angular region about the normal to the aperture. The same expression can be used with near-field measurements. I reduced the expression to a nomograph. A nomograph allows one to rapidly test various choices. In the second half of the paper, I answer questions caused by the February column which discussed polarization (Milligan, IEEE Antennas. Propag. Mag., vol.38, no.1, p.56-8, 1996)     

Antenna coupling and near-field sampling in plane-polar coordinates

A probe-corrected vector transmission formula and a rigorous sampling-reconstruction theorem for near-field antenna measurements in plane-polar coordinates are derived from three fundamental theorems of antenna theory: the mutual coupling function between two antennas satisfies the homogeneous wave equation; a receiving antenna can be represented as a differentiator of the incident field; and the mutual coupling function is virtually bandlimited. The rigorous sampling equations are applied to compute the far fields of a circular-aperture antenna sampled in the near field at half-wavelength radial spacing     

Applications of probe-compensated near-field measurements

The theory of near-field measurements for antenna practitioners is summarized, and the measurement procedures in three coordinate systems, namely rectangular, cylindrical, and spherical are outlined. Specific topics include probe characterization, measurement systems, data reduction, and attendant accuracies. The results of recent studies are also summarized, and some brief remarks on future applications of near-field measurements in the laboratory, the production line, and in field testing and evaluation conclude the paper.     

Recent experimental results in near-field antenna measurements

Recent experimental results on determination of antenna pattern and power gain from near-field measurements are described. Two new antenna measurement theorems were applied. Measurements were made on an electrically large horn lens, a standard-gain horn and a nominal duplicate of the measuring antenna. Some comparisons with direct far-field measurement results were made.     

Real-time spherical near-field handset antenna measurements

A new spherical near-field measurement system, dedicated to personal-communications applications, has been installed at e-tenna Corporation. The system, sold by Satimo, uses an electronically scanned probe array, and offers a dramatic reduction of the measurement time (by a factor ranging from 60 to 1,000) with respect to conventional mechanical scanners. This test range has undergone extensive acceptance testing, which has verified the specified measurement accuracy. The speed of the system, combined with the availability of full-sphere measurement data, enables rapid measurement of antenna efficiency. The system also enables the measurement of other parameters, such as the percentage of radiated power dissipated into the body of a human test subject operating a cellular telephone     

Basic theory of probe-compensated near-field measurements

The general problem concerning the interaction of a probe antenna with the near field of an arbitrary antenna is considered. The application of the Lorentz reciprocity theorem to the problem of determining antenna characteristics, including the far-field pattern, is presented. The data required to correct for the directional effects of the probe, the effect of probe correction on the measured data, and the attendant mathematical computations in rectangular systems are described. Extensions to cylindrical and spherical systems are discussed.     

Probe correction of spherical near-field measurements

Probe correction has been implemented in a computer program which calculates antenna far fields from spherical nearfield measurements. The computer program has been applied to near-field measurements on a satellite model, and the accuracy of the computed far field is significantly improved, compared with the results obtained without probe correction.     

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.     

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.     

Spatial aliasing for near-field sensor arrays

An investigation is presented into the presence of spatial aliasing due to the operation of a linear array in the near-field. It shows that the standard half wavelength sensor spacings rule, which guarantees that no aliasing will occur in the operation of far-field arrays, is not sufficient to prevent aliasing in the near-field. This claim is justified by theoretical considerations and corroborated by simulation results     

近场测量相控阵天线的全息成像方法

研究了一种利用近场测量技术全息成像相控阵天线口径幅相的方法。该方法是把近场测量获得的方向图函数与由单元形式及幅相分布表示的方向图函数进行比较,采用FFT算法和空间域的Fourier重构法,可以快速、精确地成像出相控阵天线口径的“全息图”,进而诊断出阵中单元幅相的奇异程度。通过仿真实验,检验了该方法的成像分辨率和精度,并考察了不同口径区域的成像误差对辐射方向图的影响程度,说明该具有非常好的应用前景。     

时域近场测量采样平面选择分析

利用平面波谱展开理论和时域有限差分法对几种典型天线的远场方向图建模计算,分析和比较了不同采样平面对远场的影响,以及平面波谱理论对强、弱方向性天线的适用性,为进一步误差分析修正奠定了基础。     

模式滤波技术在平面近场天线测量中的应用

为了修正平面近场测量中的多次反射误差,介绍了模式滤波修正技术在平面近场测量中的应用,提出了一种合适的模式滤波函数.推导出模式滤波修正技术的相关公式并进行了数值仿真,仿真结果表明通过利用模式滤波技术对平面近场天线测量结果进行后处理能够有效地改善测量结果.     

Error analysis techniques for planar near-field measurements

A combination of techniques is described for reliably estimating the magnitude of each error arising in planar near-field measurements. They include mathematical analysis, computer simulation, and measurement tests. There are three primary applications for these tests: in designing a measurement facility, the requirements of each part of the measurement system can be specified to meet a given level of accuracy; during actual measurements, the experimenter can identify, and reduce where necessary, potential sources of error in the measurement; and when a measurement has been completed, the estimated uncertainty in the measurement can be obtained with confidence and ease. The latter application has been used in many measurements to verify that the planar near-field technique produces high-accuracy results competitive with any other measurement technique     

FFT applications to plane-polar near-field antenna measurements

The four-point bivariate Lagrange interpolation algorithm was applied to near-field antenna data measured in a plane-polar facility. The results were sufficiently accurate to permit the use of the FFT (fast Fourier transform) algorithm to calculate the far-field patterns of the antenna. Good agreement was obtained between the far-field patterns as calculated by the Jacobi-Bessel and the FFT algorithms. The significant advantage in using the FFT is in the calculation of the principal plane cuts, which may be made very quickly. Also, the application of the FFT algorithm directly to the near-field data was used to perform surface holographic diagnosis of a reflector antenna. The effects due to the focusing of the emergent beam from the reflector, as well as the effects of the information in the wide-angle regions, are shown. The use of the plane-polar near-field antenna test range has therefore been expanded to include these useful FFT applications     

Probe compensated near-field measurements on a cylinder

A new method is developed for determining the farfield pattern of an antenna from probe compensated near-field measurements over the surface of a right circular cylinder enclosing the antenna. The method is derived by first expanding both the field radiated by the antenna and the field radiated by the measurement probe, when it is used as a transmitter, into cylindrical wave expansions. The Lorentz reciprocity theorem is then used to solve for the field radiated by the antenna from the probe output voltage. It is shown rigorously that the antenna pattern can be determined independently of the characteristics of the measurement probe provided that certain calibration data are known. A method for determining these data from the measured far field radiated by the probe is described. It is shown that the necessary numerical integration can be performed with the fast Fourier transform algorithm. Experimental results are presented to validate the theory and to demonstrate its practicality from a measurement and computational viewpoint.     

Development and prospect of near-field optical measurements and characterizations

Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) is an ideal experimental measuring system in nano-optieal measurements and characterizations.Besides microscopy with resolution beyond the diffraction limi...     

Phaseless bi-polar planar near-field measurements and diagnosticsof array antennas

Antenna near-field measurements typically require very accurate measurement of the near-field phase. There are applications where an accurate phase measurement may not be practically achievable. Phaseless measurements are beginning to emerge as an alternative microwave antenna measurements technique when phase cannot be directly measured. There are many important aspects for successful implementation of a phaseless measurement algorithm. This paper presents appropriate phaseless measurement requirements and a phase retrieval algorithm tailored for the bi-polar planar near-field antenna measurement technique. Two amplitude measurements and a squared amplitude optimal sampling interpolation method are integrated with an iterative Fourier procedure to first retrieve the phase information and then construct both the far-field pattern and diagnostic characteristics of the antenna under test. In order to critically examine the methodologies developed in this paper, phaseless measurement results for two different array antennas are presented and compared to results obtained when the near-field amplitude and phase are directly measured