A large combination horizontal and vertical near field measurement facility for satellite antenna characterization

摘要

A large horizontaol near field measurement facility has been validated and commissioned at Lockheed Martin's Sunnyvale, CA facility. The new measurement facility willbe used for characterizing antennas for a variety of satellites over a frequency range of 1-26.5 GHz. A horizontal near field scanner with a 14m x 7.8m (46'x26') effective can area has been designed to allow for 9.8m (32') of verical clearance permitting zentih oriented satellites to be easily positioned wihint the range and tested in an efficient manner. The facility will soon support the measurement of antennas that are in a vertical orientation. This is accomplished with a novel add-on that allows vertical planar near field scanning on the same range. The vertical scanner has an effective coverage area of 13.6m (45') horizontal x 9m (30') vertical. The s ystem is being used to test commericial communications satellites.