SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MEASURING AND CHARACTERIZING ANTENNA PERFORMANCE
A ground filtering source reconstruction method and system, for a near field measurement system comprising a scanner board with an array of integrated probes that are backed by a ground plane and at least one coupled RF receiver that captures near-field data from an antenna-under-test (AUT) or device-under-test (DUT).
1 . A ground filtering source reconstruction method for a near field measurement system comprising a scanner board with an array of integrated probes that are backed by a ground plane and at least one coupled RF receiver that captures near-field data from an antenna-under-test (AUT), the method comprising of the steps of:
(a) making near field measurements of electric and/or magnetic fields over a measurement aperture;
(b) using the near field measurement to solve for an equivalent source over a selected antenna surface as well as over a ground plane in the opposite direction;
(c) spatial filtering of reconstructed source components at the ground plane to represent the AUT in free space; and
(d) transforming the spatially filtered reconstructed source components to the far field.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the methods to solve for an equivalent source comprises using electric and magnetic field integral equations.
3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the measurement aperture and the AUT is separated by a media having non-vacuum properties comprising:
(a) electric and magnetic conductivity or loss;
(b) anisotropy; and/or
(c) inhomogeneity.
4 . A near field measurement system comprising:
(a) a scanner board having an array of integrated probes backed by a ground plane and coupled to at least one RF receiver, configured to measure magnetic and/or electric fields over a measurement aperture in the near field;
(b) a module configured to solve for an equivalent source, using the near field magnetic and/or electric field measurements, over a selected antenna surface as well as over a ground plane in the opposite direction;
(c) a module to spatially filter the reconstructed source components at the ground plane to represent the AUT in free space; and
(d) a module configured to transform the spatially filtered reconstructed source components to the far field.