Title :
An improved method to determine the antenna factor
Author :
Joseph, Wout ; Martens, Luc
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Inf. Technol., Ghent Univ., Belgium
Abstract :
We present an improved method to determine the antenna factor of three antennas. Instead of using a reflecting ground plane we use absorbers. Destructive interference between the direct beam and the residual reflected beam from the absorbers is avoided by splitting the measured frequency range in bands and changing the distance between the two antennas depending on the frequency band. Furthermore, this method is applicable for both E- and H-field probes. Our method has also the advantage of being low-cost: the method does not need to be performed in an anechoic chamber to obtain high accuracy. To take the residual reflections of the environment into account, we perform a de-embedding procedure. We have developed two de-embedding methods.
Keywords :
UHF antennas; antenna testing; dipole antennas; loop antennas; E-field probes; H-field probes; absorbers; anechoic chamber; antenna factor; de-embedding procedure; destructive interference; dipole antenna; direct beam; frequency band; reflecting ground plane; residual reflected beam; residual reflections; split-shield loop antenna; Anechoic chambers; Antenna measurements; Calibration; Electromagnetic fields; Electromagnetic measurements; Frequency; Interference; Magnetic field measurement; Optical reflection; Probes;
Journal_Title :
Instrumentation and Measurement, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TIM.2004.838116