Configurable Robotic Millimeter-Wave Antenna facility

This paper presents an overview of the development of the Configurable Robotic Millimeter-Wave Antenna (CROMMA) facility by the Antenna Metrology Lab at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). NIST set out to develop an antenna measurement facility that would be reconfigurable to different near-field antenna measurement geometries and perform antenna measurements from 100 to 500 GHz. An industrial robotic arm, hexapod and precision rotator were integrated to make a unique antenna measurement facility. A laser tracker with the ability to monitor and record the six degrees of freedom of a target was employed to measure and provide feedback used to correct the actual path of the robotic arm and position of the hexapod and rotator.