The Air Force operates a large anechoic chamber for testing electrical systems of large scale aircraft and their antennas. Due to the diversity of testing requirements met by their facility, they have a need for a portable near-field antenna measurement system that can operate in various modes over a large range of frequencies, and be effective in measuring antenna characteristics in the presence of the electrically large platforms on which the antennas are mounted.MI Technologies proposes to address this need with a novel combination of technologies including robotic positioning of photonic near-field probes and laser tracking technology to enable multiple scan planes to be combined into a single near-field scan for far-field transformation. This unique combination of technologies is expected to yield a flexible, light-weight, broadband, near-field solution that will operate in the presence of extremely large platforms.;
Benefit: Advantages of the technologies to be investigated would offer significant value to MI's customers and would be of benefit to the antenna test and measurement community at large. Development of portable and accurate near-field antenna measurement products will help a wide range of military, automotive and spacecraft antennas to be characterized in-situ. MI plans to leverage the experience gained through this SBIR to develop options to its existing product line thereby realizing the advantages described above for its customers.This research could lead to new abilities to use robotic positioners in numerous measurement applications where traditional robotics are limited in available scan area.
