Challenges and Prospects of Vehicle OTA Spherical Near-Field Measurement Probes

This paper discusses the issue of measuring probe indicators for large-scale equipment, such as automobiles, under conditions of offset configuration. A simulation of spherical near-field measurement based on an offset configuration is presented in this paper. The measurement error is defined according to the reference data calculated by spherical wave expansion theory. Through comparative analysis of the simulation results, the main reason for the measurement error is the insufficient coverage of the probe’s beamwidth. By adjusting the probe’s radiation pattern using simulation software, an optimized probe that satisfies near-field measurement requirements under meter-level offset conditions is obtained. Finally, based on the simulation results, a set of recommended values for the main performance of the optimized probe is provided.