A nonredundant spherical NF-FF transformation: Experimental tests @ UNISA antenna characterization lab

An experimental validation of a near-field - farfield transformation technique with spherical scanning for quasiplanar antennas requiring a minimum number of near-field data is provided in this work. Such a technique is based on the nonredundant sampling representations of the electromagnetic fields and on the optimal sampling interpolation expansions, and makes use of an oblate ellipsoid to model the antenna. It is so possible to remarkably lower the number of data to be acquired, thus reducing in a significant way the measurement time. The effectiveness of such a technique is experimentally assessed at the UNISA Antenna Characterization Lab by comparing the farfield patterns reconstructed from nonredundant measurements on the sphere with those obtained from the near-field data directly measured on the classical spherical grid.