Experimental evaluation of the spherical near field test range

In aircraft manufacturer firms there is the need for measuring antenna patterns of large beamwidth communication/navigation antennas with the scale modeling technique. A series of tests has been carried out to verify the use of the spherical near field (SNF) test range for this purpose. The comparison is made between measured and calculated data of stub and waveguide antennas installed on a cylinder. From the results it appears that the agreement is reasonable. The advantages and disadvantages of the SNF test range for this particular application are discussed.