Antenna Pattern Verification System Based on a Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

Author

Virone, G. ; Lingua, Andrea M. ; Piras, Marco ; Cina, Alberto ; Perini, Federico ; Monari, Jader ; Paonessa, Fabio ; Peverini, O.A. ; Addamo, G. ; Tascone, R.

Author_Institution

Ist. di Elettron. ed Ing. dell´Inf. e delle Telecomun. (IEIIT), Turin, Italy

Volume

13

fYear

2014

fDate

2014

Firstpage

169

Lastpage

172

Abstract

This letter presents a radiation pattern verification system for low-frequency antennas in their operative conditions, e.g., on the ground, next to other elements, etc. It is a far-field setup using a properly equipped micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as a test source. The micro UAV can perform an autonomous flight. Its absolute position is measured with a remote topographic instrument. By data processing, the received power pattern along the UAV flying path is reconstructed. The proposed setup has been validated on two standard wire antennas at 150 and 408 MHz with an estimated accuracy of 1 dB.

Keywords

HF antennas; UHF antennas; antenna radiation patterns; autonomous aerial vehicles; position measurement; wire antennas; UAV flying path; antenna radiation pattern verification system; autonomous flight; data processing; frequency 150 MHz; frequency 408 MHz; low-frequency antenna; microunmanned aerial vehicle; position measurement; remote topographic instrument; wire antenna; Accuracy; Antenna measurements; Antenna radiation patterns; Arrays; Power measurement; Soil; Soil measurements; Antenna measurements; antenna radiation pattern; radio astronomy; unmanned aerial vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1536-1225

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LAWP.2014.2298250

Filename

6704306