Best-Fit 3D Phase-Center Determination and Adjustment
Author: Scott T. McBride, David J. Tammen, Ph.D, Doren W. Hess, Ph.D
Publication: AMTA 2013
Copyright Owner: NSI-MI Technologies
There are several applications in which knowledge of the location of the phase center of an antenna, and its twodimensional variation, is an important feature of its use. A simple example occurs when a broad-beam antenna is used as a feed for a reflector, where the center of the spherical phase fronts should always lie at the focal point of the paraboloidal surface. Here, the ability to determine the phase center of the feed from knowledge of its far-field phase/amplitude pattern is critical to the reflector’s design.
Previously published methods process a single cut of data at a time, yielding 2D lateral and longitudinal phase-center offsets. Eand H-plane cuts are thus processed separately, and will, in general, yield different answers for the longitudinal offset. The technique presented here can process either one line cut at a time or a full Theta-Phi raster. In addition, multiple frequencies can be processed to determine the average 3D phase-center offset. The technique can merely report the phase-center location, or it can also adjust the measured phases to relocate the origin to the computed phase center. Example results from measured data on multiple antenna types are presented.