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This paper briefly reviews existing compact range performance characterization methods showing the limitations of each technique and the need for an accepted and well understood technique which provides efficient and accurate characterization of compact range measurement accuracy. A technique known as the transverse pattern comparison method is then described which has been practiced by the author and some range users for the past several years. The method is related to the well known longitudinal pattern comparison method, however, comparisons are conducted in the transverse planes where the required span of aperture displacement is much smaller and does not exceed the dimensions of the quiet zone. This method provides several advantages for characterizing compact range performance as well as enables range users to improve achievable measurement accuracies by eliminating the impact of extraneous signal errors in the quiet zone.
Traditional Compact Range Antenna (CRA) applications are related to Antenna Pattern and RCS measurements. For these purposes, as a rule, CRA are installed within or outside of an anechoic chamber as stationary equipment. However, for some modern applications, such as Electronic Warfare development, radar tracking system testing, indoor RF environment simulation and others, where dynamic and pointing properties of an AUT are to be tested, the mobile and multi-beam CRA is of great importance, since it provides the designer with powerful simulation and testing capabilities. Such a CRA has been designed, built and tested at ORBIT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES, LTD. The design trade-offs, CRA analysis, test set-up and results are discussed in the presented paper.
The antenna analyzer is specifically designed to make use of measurement techniques that have been difficult to use until now The analyzer is an original vectorial receiver design, based upon the analysis of one of the sidebands of the marked RF measurement signal. Thanks to the RF marking process, the antenna analyzer is not the only equipment that allows characterization (in amplitude, phase or return loss) of all devices in a transmitting chain, including the high power elements, without cutting off the transmission. Originally introduced for the analysis of wired antennas in UHF-VHF bands, its use is now extended to microwave antenna measurements, especially printed circuit antennas. A special characteristic of the new analyzer, ESTAR 2110 is its capacity to measure the phase of RF signal with power levels as low as -120dBm. The analyzer is ideal for elaborate analysis of fundamental antenna parameters such as RF current distribution, close field, antenna pattern, impedance and phase balance of antenna network. The paper describes the marking principle and its use in making antenna parameter measurements.
The Precision Airborne Measurement System (PAMS) is a flight test facility at Rome Laboratory which is designed to measure in-flight aircraft antenna patterns. A capability which provides antenna pattern measurements for multiple VHF and UHF antennas, at multiple frequencies, in a single flight, has recently been demonstrated. A unique half space VHF/UHF long periodic antenna is used as a ground receive antenna. Computerized airborne and ground instrumentation are used to provide the multiplexing capability. The new capability greatly reduces time and cost of flight testing. The design, construction, and calibration of the half-space log-periodic ground receiving antenna is discussed and the ground and airborne segments of the instrumentation are described.
A modern outdoor test facility has been designed for comprehensive evaluation of antenna systems on full scale aircraft. The aircraft are mounted to a positioner/tower assembly in an underground handling facility, and are raised to a height of 25 meters by a hydraulically activated lift. A source site 1000 meters downrange provides illumination of a 7 meter radius test zone over a 0.1-18 GHz band. All source site functionality is remotely controlled from the operations center located near the aircraft support tower. The range is designed to provide the capability not only for conventional automated antenna pattern measurements, but also for the support of ECCM testing. This is accomplished by activating both fixed and mobile jamming transmitters available to illuminate the test zone using either CW or modulated waveforms. The FR Model 959 Automated Antenna Measurement Workstation is being enhanced to allow for control of the jammer sites as well as the primary range sited. The system design and operation is described.
A new multi-purpose antenna measurement facility was put into operation at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 1993. This facility is currently used to perform gain, pattern, and polarization measurements on probes and standard gain horns. The facility can also provide spherical and cylindrical near-field measurements. The frequency range is typically from 1 to 75 GHz. The paper discusses the capabilities of this new facility in detail. The facility has 10 m long horizontal rails for gain measurements using the NIST developed extrapolation technique. This length was chosen so that gain calibrations at 1 GHz could be performed on antennas with apertures as large as 1 meter. This facility also has a precision phi-over-theta rotator setup used to perform spherical near-field, probe pattern and polarization measurements. This setup uses a pair of 4 m long horizontal rails for positioning antennas over the center of rotation of the theta rotator. This allows antennas up to 2 m in length to be accommodated for probe pattern measurements. A set of 6 meter long vertical rails that are part of the source tower gives the facility that added capability of performing cylindrical near-field measurements. Spherical and cylindrical near-field measurements can be performed on antennas up to 3.5 m in diameter.
The plane wave quality of a compact range (CR) is usually specified in terms of the crosspolar level and the magnitude and phase ripple in the test zone. The way these deviations from the ideal plane wave affect the measurement of different antenna types can be treated by the application of the reciprocity principle between the transmitting and receiving antenna in a measurement set-up. By the application of the sampling theorem, it is found that the measured antenna pattern can be expressed as a summation of the plane wave spectrum components of the field at the test zone weighted by the true radiation pattern of the antenna under test (AUT) evaluated at the CR plane wave directions in the rotated coordinate system of the AUT. The inverse procedure can be used to extract the CR plane wave information (and therefore the CR field at the test zone by means of the Fourier series) from the measurement of a standard antenna with a known radiation pattern.
Antenna pattern measurements are dominantly influenced by the presence of extraneous fields in the test zone. A fast and simple way to recognize problems in pattern measurements provides the Antenna Pattern Comparison-technique (APC). This method usually consists of recording azimuthal patterns on different positions across the test zone. Differences in the amplitude data give a rough indication for the magnitude of the interfering signal. The "Novel APC-method" (NAPC) employs both amplitude- and phase-data so that it becomes possible to separate the direct and the extraneous signals from each other. It will be shown that this method is eminently suited to correct radiation patterns of high-gain and low-sidelobe antennas. For verification purposes corrected patterns are compared with time-dated ones and the resemblance is excellent. It is concluded that the NAPC-method is promising and powerful technique for accurate antenna pattern determination, mainly because it can be easily implemented for most applications.
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 measurement of modern low sidelobe antennas has brought a greater need for accurate site characterisation in order to quantify the effects of site scatterers. A multi-frequency Hankel function out-propagation technique is used to locate and identify site scatterers whose effects may degrade the patterns of antennas measured on the site.
The effects of measurement distance on the sidelobe sum and difference patterns are examined. Highly efficient and robust aperture distributions, the Taylor ñ and the Bayliss ñ, are used to generate date representative of all such distributions. Patterns are obtained through numerical integration of the near-field inegral with exact phase term. Taylor ñ patterns are computed for sidelobe levels to -60 db (published in 1984), and Bayliss patterns for sidelobe levels down to -50 db (new results). For both sum and difference patterns, the change in first sidelobe height, in db, is linear with the log of the measurement distance normalized by 2D(squared)/(lambda). In both cases the lines for different sidelobe levels have the same slope. These results, and typical patterns showing sidelobe changes, will be presented.
One antenna characteristic that is difficult to predict accurately is the antenna temperature. There are two basic reasons this is true. First, the effect of the full volumetric radiation pattern of the antenna must be taken into account. Secondly, the antenna temperature calculation requires knowledge of the noise power incident on the antenna, from the environment in which it is operating. This paper describes a measurement program which was undertaken to establish the accuracy of a model which is being used to predict antenna temperature for earth based reflector antennas. The measurements were conducted at 11 GHz, using an 8-foot diameter Cassegrain reflector antenna in an outdoor environment. The measurements are compared to predictions generated by The Ohio State University Reflector Antenna Code. Use of the reflector code allows the full volumetric pattern of the antenna, including all sidelobes, backlobes and cross-polarized response, to be included in the calculation. Additionally, the contribution to the antenna temperature from the various regions of the pattern can be calculated separately and analyzed.
Antenna testing is generally predicated upon using a Standard Gain Antenna co-located with the Antenna Under Test (AUT). At HF/VHF/UHF frequencies Standard Gain Antennas (Horns) are too large for co-location on the Antenna Under Test's (AUT's) rotating platform. Co-location is desirable for maintaining equal range lengths and equality in the environment; a prime source of multipath effects. In the HF/VHF/UHF frequencies bands the Log-Periodic is quite often employed as the "Source Antenna" but not necessarily the "Reference Antenna". Dipoles, monopoles above a large ground plane and horn antennas are often chosen as the Reference Antenna. The Log-Periodic Antenna, although also large, has pattern characteristics similar to the Standard Gain Horn's, has a superior and flatter bandwidth and is considerably lighter in weight. This paper will discuss a technique for using a Log-Periodic Antenna as a Standard Gain Antenna when co-location with the Antenna Under Test is not feasible.
This paper presents precision measurements of the RCS of a simplified aircraft geometry called the "generic aircraft". The RCS is measured over a frequency range of 2 to 18 GHz, and for incidence angle from "nose-on" through "broadside" to "tail on". This data is presented in the form of RCS contours as a function of frequency and incidence angle, and is compared with the computed RCS using wire-grid modeling. The contours show distinct patterns due to airframe resonance and due to the interference of the scattered field from the nose and from the tail of the aircraft.
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 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.
The Slotline/Bowtie Hybrid (SBH) antenna concept has been applied to develop an ultra wide bandwidth feed for compact range applications. The initial design requirements were to develop a feed with a 30 degree 1dB beamwidth from 1 to 18 GHz. It was felt that one could sacrifice the beamwidth at the lower frequencies somewhat because that would reduce the feed spill over which is normally the worst at lower frequencies. The resulting antenna has an 18" by 18" aperture and basically meets the bandwidth requirements. In the worst case, it has 2 dB variation across the desired 30" beamwidth. The phase center is relatively constant, and VSWR is basically less than 2:1 from 1 to 18 GHz. Measured and calculated results are shown to illustrate the performance of this new feed antenna. In addition, the measured amplitude and phase patterns have been input to a reflector analysis code to predict the field probe data in the simulated quiet zone. These results clearly show that this new feed performs very well from 1 to 18 GHz.
Recently, super resolution algorithm have been used in radar target imaging to increase the down range and/or the cross range resolution. In the open literature, however, the super resolution algorithms have been applied to simulated targets or very simple targets measured in a test range. In this paper, the super resolution algorithms, namely the hybrid algorithm and the 2-D linear prediction, are applied to more realistic targets. One of the targets is a flat plate model of the F-117 aircraft. The back-scattered fields of the flat plate model were measured in a compact range. The other target is a Mooney 231 aircraft. The aircraft was flown in a circular pattern approximately 10 miles from the radar. It is shown that the super resolution algorithm can be successfully applied to these targets.
In recent years, a need has arisen to measure the patterns of high gain antennas having ultra low sidelobe levels (ULSA), usually installed on aircraft platforms. The objective is to measure antenna patterns which include the platform multipath, generated by reflections off the aircraft, but which exclude the effects of range multipath. These advanced antennas require testing capabilities to about 60 dB below the maximum level. Moreover, the range multipath is at times expected to be stronger than the direct path if the mainbeam antenna is pointed below the horizon. Aggravating the problem is the fact that usually CW antenna patterns are desired. ATEK developed an innovative technique which accomplishes the required tasks using the following concept; A 20 MHz signal is used to generate desired weight taps needed to cancel the received signal. Since part of these taps are used to cancel the desired signal, it has been shown that they can be used separately, following the adaptive process to measure the antenna patterns with the multipath suppressed. The technique can be used to measure very accurately antenna patterns in response to either CW or non-CW signals.
Despite their high cost, phased array antennas are becoming popular for radar applications because of their ability to provide reliable information even in a hostile environment. Evaluation of these antennas requires parameters like gain, radiation pattern, beam width, sidelobe (both near and far off) azimuth and elevation null depth, etc. to be tested over the entire range of frequency spots and scan angles. Typically, if the number of frequency spots are 24 and the number of beam positions for which the measurement has to be done are about 100, then the total number of measurements needed to generate the required data are 7200. In addition, phased arrays with a space feed have to be initially collimated at all the spot frequencies. The outdoor testing of these many parameters may not be convenient, and at times it may even be impossible. The planar near field measurement technique provides a systematic and accurate method of measuring large array antennas for all the required parameters.