Plane wave synthesis approach to compensate range induced errors in antenna measurements

Antenna measurements are often impacted by the presence of stray signals and imperfect illumination within the measurement zone (or quiet zone, QZ). A new post-processing approach is introduced for correcting the measured pattern by characterizing the QZ illumination in terms of a complete set of plane waves. To calculate the plane wave coefficients, the tangential electric field is probed over a mathematical surface encompassing the QZ in the absence of the antenna under test. Because an antenna pattern is defined as the response to an incident plane wave, a forward model may be formulated which describes the measured antenna data as a convolution of plane wave responses. This model is then used to self-consistently deconvolve the stray signal perturbation effects from a contaminated measurement and produce the true far-zone antenna pattern.