Fast Near-Field Antenna Measurement Setup Using a Reconfigurable Leaky-Wave Probe

The data acquisition process in a near-field antenna characterization setup can be greatly accelerated by deploying a reconfigurable antenna as a field-scanning probe. Recent advanced in wide-angle steerable leaky-wave antennas can enable electronic interrogation over a wide range of plane wave directions. This in turn contributes to the accuracy in predicting the tangential near-fields of an antenna under test (AUT) over the interrogation plane. By applying regularization to the captured transmission coefficients of the interrogation process, the tangential electric fields of the AUT are reconstructed. Then, the equivalent magnetic currents of these fields have been used to find the far-field radiation pattern of the AUT through a NF-FF transformation.