Abstract:

 Measurement of far-field of antenna is studied in this paper. The proposed method introduces a metallic
ball and a dihedral calibrator as radar target for observation. A model is built for the signal received from the
antenna that scans the target. A measurement equation for the antenna polarization characteristic is derived. By
processing and solving the echo-voltage samples, the polarization characteristics of the antenna are obtained. The
analytical expression and practical procedure are presented. Validity of the method is shown by processing of the
observation data and simulation. The method can greatly reduce the development complexity and production cost
of the field test, and increase fidelity of the predicted far field.

Key words: antenna measurement, spatial polarization characteristic, external field test, calibrator, polarization, scattering matrix, target characteristic