A technique for spherical near-field antenna test time reduction

无线通信无处不在，从个人之间的通信，到系统和设备之间的通信，再到数据计量。如果有任何东西是无线的(而不是有线的)，总是需要天线。毫无疑问，未来几年对天线产品的需求，特别是日益复杂的天线产品，将会增加。随着天线性能复杂性的增加，确认给定天线是否满足所需性能所需的测量套件也随之增加。对天线进行详细的测试非常耗时。主要因素是与被测天线或采集探头在这种测量过程中的三维运动有关的采集时间。如果这个测试时间可以减少，那么天线的开发时间就可以减少，从而提高竞争力。本研究提出了一种在天线测试中使用广泛使用的球面近场测量技术来减少测试次数的方法。

Wireless communications pervades everything, from communications between individuals, to communications between systems and equipment, to data metering. If anything is wireless (as opposed to wired), antennas are always required. There is little doubt that the need for antenna products, especially increasingly sophisticated versions thereof, will increase in the years to come. As antenna performance complexity increases, so too does the suite of measurements needed to confirm whether a given antenna satisfies the required performance. Elaborate testing of antennas is time-consuming. The principal contributor is the acquisition time related to the three-dimensional movement of the antenna under test, or the acquisition probe, during such measurements. If this test time can be decreased then antenna development times can be decreased, resulting in increased competitiveness. This research proposes a way to reduce test times when the widely used spherical near-field measurement technique is used for antenna testing.