Study on a fast measurement and identifying malfunction elements in phased array antennas

Phase-shift measurement method, a new approach to the phased array antenna measurement, is studied in this paper, to solve the problem of the fast measurement and identifying malfunction elements in phase array antennas. With the phased array antennas and the probe both fixed, the method made the measurement high efficient by researching the optimization algorithms of phase distribution combined with the characteristics that the phase-shift state of each phase shifter is controllab le in the phased array antennas and using some known credible information. The common malfunctions of the phased array antennas and the theory of the fast measurement and identifying malfunction elements by the phase-shift measurement method are both introduced in detail. It is proved to be correct and efficient by the s imulation of the measurement process of a phased array antenna model using this method. Study shows it is a practical method, especially suited to the fast measurement and identifying ma lfunction elements of large-scale phased array antennas.