Performance Evaluation of a Robotically Controlled Millimeter-Wave Near-Field Pattern Range At the NIST

Published

April 7, 2013

Author(s)

David R. Novotny, Josh Gordon, Jason Coder, Michael Francis, Jeffrey R. Guerrieri

Abstract

The Antenna Metrology Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA (NIST) is developing a robotically controlled near-field pattern range for measuring antennas and components from 50 GHz to 500 GHz. This new range is intended to address the need for accurate antenna pattern measurements for a variety of applications including remote sensing and imaging. This system incorporates a precision industrial six-axes robot, six-axes parallel kinematic hexapod, and high precision rotation stage. A laser tracker is used to determine position and calibrate the robot. The robotic positioning arm is programmable and allows scanning in a variety of geometries including spherical, planar, cylindrical, and perform in-situ extrapolation measurements, as well as, other user defined geometries. For planar geometry, the coverage is a rectangle 1.25 m x 2 m. For spherical, radii from 2 cm to 2 m are possible, while the coverage in theta; is ±120° and in phi; is ±180°. Robot positioning repeatability has been evaluated and determined to be about 30µm, and absolute positioning determination via the laser tracker is 15µm. Specifics regarding the range evaluation are presented.

Proceedings Title

The 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation

Conference Dates

April 8-12, 2013

Conference Location

GOTHENBURG, SE

Conference Title

EuCAP 2013, the 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Antenna, calibration, millimeter-wave, near-field, pattern, scanning, terahertz

Citation

Novotny, D. , Gordon, J. , Coder, J. , Francis, M. and Guerrieri, J. (2013), Performance Evaluation of a Robotically Controlled Millimeter-Wave Near-Field Pattern Range At the NIST, The 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation , GOTHENBURG, SE, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=913071 (Accessed December 26, 2024)