Validation of 3D scattering measurements

In electromagnetic scattering studies, comparing the measured data to the theoretical ones is essential for both experimentalists and people involved in modeling. For the experimentalists this comparison allows them to improve their apparatuses and gives a better understanding of the causes of the measurement noise. For people involved in modeling it is an important way to validate the methods and codes and, even if the direct problem resolution is not an obliged step for inversion purposes, it still remains a useful tool to develop and test inverse algorithms. We present the measurements of fields scattered by a metal sphere and three different dielectric targets : a sphere, a cube and a finite cylinder. The measured fields are compared to simulations, calculated using Mie series for the spheres, or a coupled dipole method (CDM) for the non spherical targets. The main originality of these comparisons is that both magnitude and phase are presented. Moreover the comparisons are made in cases where the transmitter moves outside the azimuth plane (which is the plane containing the receiver antenna locations and the target). After the two previous 2D databases provided to the inverse community, these results will permit the constitution of a 3D database