Welcome to the AMTA paper archive. Select a category, publication date or search by author.
(Note: Papers will always be listed by categories. To see ALL of the papers meeting your search criteria select the "AMTA Paper Archive" category after performing your search.)
The Hughes Aircraft Company Compact Range facility for antenna and RCS measurements, scheduled for completion in 1993, is described. The facility features two compact ranges. Chamber 1 was designed for a 4 to 6 foot quiet zone, and Chamber 2 was designed for a 10 to 14 foot quiet zone. Each chamber is TEMPEST shielded with 1/4 inch welded steel panels to meet NSA standard 65-6 for RF isolation greater than 100 dB up to 100 GHz, with personnel access through double inter locked Huntley RFI/EMI sliding pneumatic doors certified to maintain 100 dB isolation. While Chamber 1 is designed to operate in the frequency range from 2 to 100 GHz, Chamber 2 is designed for the 1 to 100 GHz region. Both RCS measurements and antenna field patterns/gain measurements can be made in each chamber. The reflectors used are the March Microwave Dual Parabolic Cylindrical Reflector System with the sub-reflector mounted on the ceiling to permit horizontal target cuts to be measured in the symmetrical plane of the reflector system.
The new antenna measurement facility in C.A.S.A. Space Division is described. The system, designed and installed by Grupo de Radiación of the Polytechnic University of Madrid , provides antenna measurement set-up for Far Field and both Planar and Spherical Near Field.
A method has been developed by which the fair-field RCS of a target can be evaluated from its RCS measured in the near field. The method can compensate for the nonuniformity of the antenna pattern which can be a function of the angle, the frequency, and the target distance. A correction transform is evaluated which depends on the antenna pattern, the frequency, the target distance and the target size. The correction transform is independent of the target geometry. The RCS of a target is measured in the near field, in a band of frequencies around the frequency at which the far field RCS of the target is desired. The method can practically handle directional scattering elements, shading of the scattering elements by each other, and interactions among the scattering elements. The reconstructed RCS evaluated by this method shows excellent agreement with the actual far-field RCS.
A method has been developed by which the fair-field RCS of a target can be evaluated from its RCS measured in the near field. The method can compensate for the nonuniformity of the antenna pattern which can be a function of the angle, the frequency, and the target distance. A correction transform is evaluated which depends on the antenna pattern, the frequency, the target distance and the target size. The correction transform is independent of the target geometry. The RCS of a target is measured in the near field, in a band of frequencies around the frequency at which the far field RCS of the target is desired. The method can practically handle directional scattering elements, shading of the scattering elements by each other, and interactions among the scattering elements. The reconstructed RCS evaluated by this method shows excellent agreement with the actual far-field RCS.
Increasing use is being made of millimeter-wave systems and there is a need for improved antenna measurement facilities operating at these higher frequencies. Although the practical implementation of compact range and near-field/far-field techniques becomes increasingly difficult, by using a hybrid approach, the attributes of these existing schemes can be exploited and their limitations overcome. The technique uses a linear near-field probe to carry out an instantaneous integration of the field in the date acquisition requirement, together with a quasi-real-time prediction capability. This contribution reviews a number of implementation schemes for the semi-compact antenna test range (SCATR) approach which have been investigated over the past decade and presents the latest results. An implementation of the SCATR with amplitude-only data is presented as an economical and viable method for millimeter-wave frequencies.
A 4 foot by 4 foot near field planar scanner is used to evaluate the performance of a SA5751 compact range in CSIST. Using the far field patterns integrated from the scanned aperture fields, the coming directions of the clutters in the chamber can be determined. Often the clutter level is less than the side lobe level of the far field pattern, the scanned field is multiplied by a certain weighting function before integration to pop out the clutter signal. However the weighting method would broaden the main beam and hence clutters coming close along the reflected wave of the reflector are still can not be seen (sic). In this article, a method called main beam suppression, subtracting a constant filed (sic) on the scanned aperture, is introduced to solve this kind of problem and the result shows it serves well for finding those clutters hidden by the main beam and the side lobes nearer to it.
Traditional techniques for evaluating the performance of anechoic chambers, compact ranges, and far-field ranges involve scanning a field probe through the quiet zone area. Plotting the amplitude and phase ripple yields a measure of the range performance which can be used in uncertainty estimates for future antenna tests. This technique, however, provides very little insight into the causes of the quiet-zone ripple. NSI's portable near-field scanners and diagnostic software can perform quiet-zone measurements which will provide angular image maps of the chamber reflections. This data can be used by engineers to actually improve the chamber performance by identifying and suppressing the sources of high reflections which cause quiet-zone ripple. This paper will describe the technique and show typical results which can be expected.
Linear probing is used to evaluate test zone quality and detect extraneous field sources on fixed-line-of-sight far-field and compact antenna ranges. Field probing along a line allows the measurement and meaningful display of range field amplitude and phase taper. Since positioners used with far-field and compact ranges are spherical, linear probing requires extra equipment, namely a linear scanner. This paper will present a new technique for generating linear probing data from measurements made with the existing spherical positioners. The steps necessary for implementing this new technique will be presented and demonstrated using measured data.
This paper reports on Far-Field Spherical Microwave Holography (FFSMH), currently being researched at Georgia Tech. Microwave Holography is a technique for evaluating complex electric fields near the field sources. Planewave Microwave Holography involves the use of the planewave spectrum and is the most common technique in use. Spherical Microwave Holography involves the use of a spherical expansion of Maxwell's equations and is the topic of this paper. Spherical Near-Field Microwave Holography (SNFMH) has been successfully used to locate and identify defects in radome walls, and to determine antenna aperture distributions. FFSMH differs from SNFMH only in the location of the measurement surface. FFSMH uses a far-field measurement surface and SNFMH used a near-field measurement surface. Progress in the definition of resolution limits for Spherical Microwave Holography is reported. FFSMH is demonstrated and results are compared to SNFMH and Planewave Microwave Holography
The Antenna Metrology group of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), working in cooperation with McClellan Air Force Base (MAFB), Sacramento, CA, have examined-measurement techniques to test a large phased-array antenna using planar near-field (PNF) scanning. It was necessary to find methods that would be useful in both field and production testing and could provide gain and diagnostic information in a simple and timely manner. This paper will discuss several aspects of the PNF measurement cycle that impact effective testing of the antenna array. These aspects include the use of a polarization-matched probe, the effect of scan truncation both on the transform to the far field and the transform to the aperture plane, and use of gain prediction curves as a diagnostic tool.
An alternate method is presented for computing far-field antenna patterns from planar near-field measurements. The method utilizes near-field data to determine equivalent magnetic current sources over a fictitious planar surface which encompasses the antenna, and these currents are used to ascertain the far-fields. An electric field integral equation (EFIE) is developed to relate the near-fields to the equivalent magnetic currents. Method of moments (MOM) procedure is used to transform the integral equation into a matrix one. The matrix equation is solved with the conjugate gradient method (CGM), 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 operation. Near-field to far-field transformation for planar scanning may be efficiently performed under certain conditions by exploiting the block Toeplitz structure of the matrix and using CGM and Fast Fourier Transform (CGFFT) thereby drastically reducing comparison and storage requirements. Numerical results are presented by extrapolating the far-fields using experimental near-field data.
A theoretical comparison for the application and derivation of modal expansion and integral equation methods is presented. It is shown that one formulation can be transformed into the other one using Fourier transform. From this point of view it can be stated that both method solves the same integral equation but for the modal expansion approach the integral equation is solved in the spectral domain while for the integral equation method the same equation is solved in the space domain. It is shown that for most of the practical antenna types the integral equation method gives more accurate far-field estimation than the modal expansion method, particularly in the planar scanning case.
In recent years different techniques have been developed for measuring large aperture antennas on smaller ranges. Problems still exist with these techniques, though, such as impracticality and size restrictions. This paper presents a new method for measuring a phased-array antenna at approximately one tenth the far-field distance. This method involves focusing the test array to a probe a certain distance away, then moving the probe along an elliptical path. Since different elliptical paths can be easily generated with the same test hardware, this new method promises to yield a measurement technique that can be readily adapted to different sized antennas. This paper also presents the results of computer simulations showing the validity and limitations of this technique.
When the planar near-field method is used for antenna characterization, two probes are required to measure an antenna under test (AUT). The receiving patterns (both amplitude and phase) of these probes, obtained from planar near-field measurements, must be utilized to accurately determine the far field of the AUT. This process is commonly called planar near field probe correction. When the AUT is nominally circularly polarized (CP), the measurements are more accurate and efficient if nominally circularly-polarized probes are used. Further efficiency is obtained when only one probe which is dual-polarized is used to allow for simultaneous measurements of both components. However, when using dual-port CP probes to measure the antenna, we must apply the probe correction even for on-axis measurements.
A series of measurements to validate the performance of a Planar Near-Field (PNF) Antenna Test Range located at the Satellite and Aerospace Systems Division at Spar Aerospace Limited were made by Scientific-Atlanta during the month of February 1992. These measurements were made as a part of a contract to provide Spar with a Model 2095 Microwave Measurement System with planar near-field software options and related instrumentation and hardware. The range validation consisted of a series of self-tests and far-field pattern comparison tests using a planar array antenna provided by Spar that had been independently calibrated at another range facility. This paper describes the range validation tests and presents some of the results. Comparisons of far-field patterns measured on the validation antenna at both the Spar PNF facility and another antenna range are presented.
A novel planar near-field antenna measurement and diagnostic system is described. This bi-polar near-field system offers a large scan plane size with reduced "real estate" requirements and a simple mechanical implementation resulting in a highly cost effective antenna measurement system. A brief description of the bi-polar near-field range and its associated data processing methods are given. Measured results are compared with those obtained on a far-field range and a plane rectangular planar near-field range. It is shown that the UCLA facility produces highly accurate results which rival those of modern production antenna measurement facilities. Holographic images produced from measured data are provided to demonstrate the diagnostic capabilities of the antenna range and to provide electromagnetic field visualization for educational purposes.
This paper presents the feasability (sic) to explore the Focal Plane (FP) of a Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR). We first introduce the interest of getting very fast the Far Field Pattern of an antenna with a 2D modulated scattering array located at the focus of a CATR. Then, we discuss the geometric, electrical and optical constraints involved when using this technique. A comparison with a classical measurement performed at ESA-ESTEC is shown and we conclude by emphasizing the potentialities of this technique.
A Planar Near Field to Far Field (PNF/FF) Transformation Program has been developed. This PNF/FF package includes probe correction, spectral filtering, position errors correction and sampled data expansion. In order to evaluate how measurement system errors affect PNF/FF transformation results, a whole set of simulation routines have also been implemented. In this paper, main modules of the PNF/FF package are discussed and error simulation models together with correction routines are described.
A new near-field far-field transformation procedure, based on only amplitude measurement, is tested from both simulated and measured data. The measurements have been collected at Marconi Research Center and refers to a parabolic reflector working at 9 Ghz. This first experimental validation of the procedure fully support (sic) the feasibility of phaseless near field measurement in the antenna testing.
The anechoic chamber housing the TUD-ESA Spherical Near Field Far Field Antenna Test Facility at the Technical University of Denmark dates back to 1967 while the present RF and data collection and control systems were designed and installed in several stages between 1978 and 1985. This paper undertakes to describe the definition and realization of a refurbished and upgraded radio anechoic facility for antenna measurements given as a starting point the already existing facility. In a parallel effort, both the RF and data collection and control subsystems are being renewed and upgraded.