Imaging of a compact range using autoregressive spectral estimation (radiation patterns measurement)

The spurious scattering mechanisms of a compact range, which cause spurious signals as well as the desired plane wave to illuminate the test zone, are addressed. It is shown that an accurate estimation of the direction-of-arrival and amplitude of spurious signals in a compact range is beyond the resolution available from the Fourier transform. An estimation technique based on autoregressive (AR) modeling of field probe data is developed to locate and quantify the spurious signal sources. The probe aperture is divided into a number of overlapping subapertures so that the far-field criterion for each subaperture is satisfied. Then, the subaperture data are modeled as an AR process. Singular value decomposition and forward-backward linear prediction are used to estimate the model order and the AR parameters. Examples of probe measurements and analysis for an actual compact range are given.<>