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The present paper introduces a new antenna design to be used in anechoic chambers. When measuring 3D patterns the receiving antenna in the anechoic chamber must be able to sense the two orthogonal components of the field that exist in the far field. This can be accomplished by mechanically rotating the source horn in the chamber. A better and faster approach is to use a dual polarized antenna and electronically switch between polarizations. This new design is a broadband (2-18GHz) antenna with dual polarization. The antenna is a ridged guide horn. The novel part is that the sides have been omitted. Numerical analysis and measurements show that this open-sided or open-boundary horn provides a better and more stable pattern behavior for the entire band of operation as well as good directivity for its compact design. The radiation and input parameters of the antenna are analyzed in this paper for the novel design as well as for some of the early prototypes to show some of the ill effects of bounded quadridge horn designs for broadband applications. Mechanically the antenna is built so that it can be mounted onto the shield of an anechoic room without compromising the shield integrity of the chamber.
ABSTRACT We are in the era of wireless communications and devices. The antennas that enable these technologies are electrically small and can be challenging to test and analyze. Yet, the industry is becoming more standardized, and so too are the tests and certifications being adopted to validate these antennas. These antennas must undergo “antenna measurements” to characterize such information as far-field patterns and gain. Additionally, hand-held devices, such as cell phones, must satisfy requirements of the Over-the-Air (OTA) performance tests as specified by the Cellular Telecommunication and Internet Association (CTIA). These tests require a measurement system that can accurately collect data on a spherical surface enclosing the AUT. This system also has to provide the appropriate data analysis capabilities and has to be constructed from dielectric materials to minimize reflections.
Radiation efficiency is an inherent property of an antenna that relates the net power accepted by an antenna to the total radiated power. It is especially useful for handset antennas where the radiation patterns are often of less use for comparing competing antennas. Radiation patterns though not as useful for direct comparisons, still provide one method by which efficiency can be calculated. To accurately calculate the efficiency from patterns, it becomes necessary to obtain multiple pattern measurements (cuts). A larger number of cuts whilst yielding more accurate efficiency results, significantly increase measurement time. Thus an antenna designer is often forced to trade off accuracy against measurement time since both quick and accurate measurements are desired. The focus of this paper is to quantify this trade off, in order to provide guidelines on the number of pattern measurements required for accurate efficiency results. Simulated and measured far-field radiation patterns are used and various numbers of cuts are utilized to quantify the loss in accuracy with a reduced number of cuts. The techniques outlined are geared primarily towards cellular handset antennas.
The development of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system for tracking and controlling goods and products, and obtaining information from people and objects are growing very rapidly in modern telecommunication area. The read range is one of the most important key factors of the RFID system. The possible read range is decided by the system specifications, such as transmitted power, antenna gain, receiver sensitivity, etc. In this paper, the read ranges of a commercial RFID system with various antennas and measurement configurations in an anechoic room are measured. The read range of 900 MHz-band RFID is calculated and compared with the measured read range. Also, actual read range is strongly influenced by real operating circumstances. The measurement results are compared with the read ranges measured in indoor office environments.
Using the results of the analysis, a script program was developed for the NSI2000 software that would calculate the spectrum from the input parameters, perform the filtering and calculate the hologram using the Fast Fourier Transform. The change in the amplitude of the reconstructed hologram pulse is then used to determine the error that results in the calculated element amplitude and/or phase. Sample curves are generated to illustrate the technique.
A piecewise linear model of the Kramers-Krönig (K-K) relations has been used to analyze electromagnetic dispersion data on RF polymers and composites. This KK analysis revealed that concrete knowledge about the complex low frequency material dispersion is critical to the analysis and understanding of the microwave dispersion. Furthermore, the confidence in the material dispersion measurements may, to someascertained through use of the K-K relations. degree, be
The Fresnel zone plate lens antenna has seen extensive investigation in the recent past, and has been used at frequencies from the microwave range through the millimeter-wave region to terahertz frequencies. For the usual zone plate antenna employed at these frequencies, path correction (i.e. phase adjustment) is accomplished by cutting different depths (grooves) in a dielectric plate or by using two or more dielectrics having different dielectric constants. Usually the focal length and aperture diameter are comparable, unlike the Fresnel zone plates which have been used at optical wavelengths. The planar configuration offers advantages of low cost, low loss, low weight, and ease of fabrication, while providing better performance, in some cases, than a true hyperboloidal or spherical lens or reflector antenna. Although the gain of the zone plate is normally less than that of a true lens, the reduced attenuation gives a greater overall system gain for the zone plate. Many measurements have been made to determine the antenna patterns (including beamwidth and sidelobe level), gain, efficiency, frequency dependence, focal behavior, aberrations, and bandwidth for both transmission and reflector designs. The major area of current debate is the question of efficiency as understood from analysis compared with actual measurements. This paper summarizes the parameters of zone plate antennas, and defines areas where more measurements are needed to fully describe their characteristics.
The incident .eld in the quiet zone on a compact range has been probed in a two dimensional grid. From the probe data, error sources have been identi.ed and a model have been created for the quiet zone. The model can be used for antenna measurement simulations. This could be used to calculate the expected interference levels in a real measurement. The measurement range analyzed here has a single, diagonally fed, serrated re.ector. The room measures 11×11×21 m3 and the quiet zone is a cylinder with 3 m diameter and length. The analysis have been done with two dimensional FFT and MUSIC for identi.cation of the directions to the error sources. Then the complex amplitudes for the major directions have been solved. The identi.ed error sources models the quiet zone ripple, in addition to that, the model includes a taper which models the feed.
The Geometrical Optics characteristics of single parabolic reflector compact range systems are presented in rules of thumb for amplitude taper, phase taper and cross polarization. This is illustrated on four different range configurations (two different focal lengths and two different offset angles). Also the influence of the feed system in regard to far field diagram and alignment is discussed for typical low and medium gain corrugated feeds. No diffraction effects are discussed in this paper. With the use of the rules of thumb, a fast and yet precise qualitative and quantitative analysis, optimization and trade off can be made for a compact range optimized for the available space as well as the application.
In this paper, we present an analysis of the impact of positioning errors on the performance of the GDAIS circular image-based near field-to-far field RCS transformation (CNFFFT). The analysis is part of our continuing investigation into the application of near fieldto-far field transformations to ground-based signature diagnostics. In particular, the analysis focuses on the errors associated with ground-to-ground, near-field, whole-body measurements where the radar moves on a nominally circular path around the target. Two types of positioning errors are considered: slowly-varying, long term drift and rapidly-varying, random perturbations about the nominal circular path. The analyses are conducted using simulated data from a target comprised of an array of generalized point scatterers which model both single and multiple interactions on the target. The performance of the CNFFFT was evaluated in terms of the angle sector cumulative RCS statistics. The analyses were performed as a function of frequency for varying amounts of position error, both with and without (approximate) motion compensation. As expected, the results show that the CNFFFT is significantly more sensitive to rapidly-varying position errors, but that acceptable performance can be achieved with motion compensation provided an accurate estimate of the errors is available.
The time-dependent spectrum of rotating structures presents many significant challenges to radar cross section (RCS) test design, instrumentation parameter selection, signal processing methodology, data analysis, and data interpretation. This paper presents a multi-dimensional signal processing tool and a suite of associated data products, based on an efficiently scripted test design and execution strategy, that are responsive to the high throughput, high data volume requirements and real time data analysis demands associated with rotorcraft testing. We specifically address the NRTF’s realization of a suite of spectral, cepstral and statistical signal processing tools supported by animation that facilitate near-real time parametric data analysis and interpretation.
Radar cross section analysis essentially rely on classical spectral analysis methods. By inverse Fourier transforming the scattering coefficients, one can deduce the amplitudes and localizations of the scatterers. Unfortunately, such methods suffer from a lack of resolution since it is tied to the inverse of the extent of the data domain of interest. The use of high resolution spectral analysis can help to overcome these difficulties. Nevertheless, the expected gain of resolution is due to the enrichment of the model that is fit to the data (usually a sum of complex exponentials). One of the key point is then the order of the model, which can usually be found with appropriate criteria (MDL, AIC,…). The amplitudes and positions of the scatterers are finally estimated. The algorithm proposed here performs the detection and estimation tasks at the same time, which turns out to be more robust than conventional sequential algorithms.
Co-polarized and cross-polarized radar cross sections (RCS) are required to completely characterize a complex target. However, it is common for a RCS range to measure only the co-polarized RCS. This practice is primarily due to the inability to produce accurate cross-polarization analysis data for the calibration targets. The most commonly used calibration targets, spheres and cylinders, cannot be used to calibrate cross-polarized RCS due to lack of cross-polarized returns. In this paper, we consider objects that can potentially be used as calibration targets for cross-polarization measurements. Specifically, we numerically study the cross-polarized responses of the Tungsten rod, the grooved cylinder, and triangular dihedrals. Co-polarized measurement data are also included in this initial assessment. From this initial study, we find the counter-balanced dihedral to be a suitable calibration target for cross-polarized measurements.
RCS data from 8 to 18 GHz on an ensemble of aluminum spheres (dia. 14", 8", 6". and 3.22x) and stainless steel ball bearings (dia. 1.25", 1.0", and 0.75"), as supported by strings in the 9-77 Range, have been collected. For inter-range comparison, the same spheres as supported separately by strings and by a foam tower have been measured in the Millimeter Wave Range (MMWR). By taking selected dual calibration pairs, the uncertainty analyses on the three sets of data show general consistency between the two Ranges, as well as between the two methods of support. In addition, the results allow us to sort out the good spheres for calibration from the bad ones.
A new rectangular anechoic chamber (20’L x 10’W x 9’7”H) has been established at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) through donations and financial support from industry and Cal Poly departments and programs. The chamber was designed and constructed by three graduate students as part of their thesis studies to explore and further their understanding of chamber design and antenna measurements. The chamber project has included RF absorber characterization, overall chamber performance assessment, and software development for the coordination of a positioner with a vector network analyzer. This paper presents absorber characterization as a function of incidence angle and orientation to enable an overall chamber performance analysis. Test data at low incidence angles (< 30o) are compared to manufacturer performance curves at normal incidence. The mean response of the measured data indicates a correlation with manufacturer curves. Through ray tracing analysis, the ripple encountered in the test data is used to identify two effective reflection planes indicative of the foam geometry. The measured data are subsequently used to predict overall anechoic chamber performance to within 1dB for a majority of the actual scan data. Details of this analysis and comparisons to actual chamber performance are presented in a companion paper.
The focused-beam system can measure electromagnetic constitutive parameters of materials much more accurately than the classic free space arch system due to reduced scattering from the edge of the finite sample and its support structure. However, for a number of reasons, the system tends to perform poorly at frequencies below 4 GHz. In order to improve the system’s performance, we need to determine the causes of this degraded performance. One way to do this is by studying the field behavior of the system at the sample region. But instead of using Gaussian beam approximation for the exciting plane-wave and locating the antenna at focal lengths determined by geometric optics, we take advantage of recent advances in computational electromagnetic tools and high performance computing technology and find the field behavior near the sample by numerically solving the full Maxwell’s equations for the whole system. In this paper, we will present our approaches and our findings which lead to better understanding of the system performance.
A waveguide material measurement technique is developed for highly reflective or lossy materials. In order to extract the complex constitutive parameters from a material, experimental reflection and transmission scattering parameters are needed. In a traditional rectangular waveguide material measurement, the sample fills the entire waveguide cross-section, making it difficult to obtain a significant transmission scattering parameter with highly reflective or lossy materials. This paper demonstrates, through the use of a modal-analysis technique, how using a partially filled rectangular waveguide cross-section allows for better transmission responses to extract the complex constitutive parameters. Experimental results for acrylic and radar absorbing material are compared to stripline measurements to verify the modal-analysis technique.
This paper presents an analysis of the reflectivity performance of the anechoic chamber. Measurements indicating the performance of the chamber-installed foam absorbers (described in a companion paper) are used to complete this analysis. This is followed by a comparison of the analysis results to chamber measurements taken in accordance with the free-space VSWR procedure [1]. Agreement between the analysis results and worst-case VSWR test measurements is within 1dB for a majority of reflection angles. In addition to chamber performance predictions, this paper describes a method of identifying primary reflection paths through interferometer calculations that compare all single bounce reflection path lengths to the direct path length. The angular spacing between interferometer nulls is used to identify the primary reflection direction. This information can be used to improve the overall chamber reflectivity by identifying areas of significant reflections and enhancing absorber treatments in these areas.
The David Florida Laboratory (DFL) was contacted by the Canadian Department of National Defense (DND) to develop an accurate, reliable, more cost effective method of characterizing existing nose cone mounted radomes for the radar systems aboard aircraft such as CF-18. Traditionally, these measurements have been performed in a far-field (FF) [1] range using conventional positioning and measurement systems and specialized instruments such as a null seeker. Recently, the use of near field methods has been incorporated in radome measurement practices [2]. This paper describes one such adaptation of a cylindrical near-field facility (CNF) for radome measurements.
We present a first-order analysis of the RCS errors resulting from non-uniform ground-bounce illumination in mobile, ground-to-ground, diagnostic RCS measurements of aircraft. For the case of a non-planar ground surface, these errors are a function of both aspect angle and position on the target. We quantify the errors in terms of their impact on the sector mean RCS as a function of position on the target. For typical targets, we show that the mean RCS error increases significantly for points displaced (either horizontally or vertically) from the calibration point. Conversely, the sector mean RCS is relatively insensitive to small-scale variations in the height of the ground, even though the errors at a single frequency and aspect angle can be quite large.