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Abstract

In a method of calibrating an active antenna the active elements of a transfer function matrix are measured using a near field probe for each radiating source of the antenna. The probe is placed in front of each source in succession and each source is excited in turn with the opposite phase and with all the other sources of the array excited normally. In the case of linear superposition of radiated fields, the measurements obtained by this method yield the elements of the transfer function matrix directly. This allows for phase and amplitude errors due to the components of the active antenna and for the effects of coupling between adjacent sources which modify the theoretical characteristics of the antenna. In the non-linear case the measurements are repeated and the matrix is obtained by iteration based on a comparison of the theoretical values used to control the antenna and the measured fields actually obtained. Measurements carried out on individual active modules prior to assembly of the antenna can be used in one variant of the method.

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