A Multi-Probe Antenna Measurement Technique With Echo Suppression Capability

Multipath propagation limits the obtainable accuracy of antenna measurements in non-anechoic environments. For reliable results of the antenna radiation pattern, appropriate postprocessing of the acquired data should be performed in order to separate the line-of-sight signal from the multipath signals. In this paper, a measurement technique which facilitates the removal of multipath contributions during data postprocessing is described. This is achieved by measuring additional field data with multiple probe antennas such that enough information is available to resolve the direct contributions of the antenna under test and the multipath signals. The data so acquired is then processed by a well adapted plane wave based near-field far-field transformation algorithm, with the echo sources integrated by means of auxiliary sources. The performance of the technique is demonstrated using simulated and true echoic measurements for spherical and planar measurement geometries.