Planar Near-Field Measurements of Low-Sidelobe Antennas

The planar near-field measurement technique is a proven technology for measuring ordinary antennas operating in the microwave region. The development of very low-sidelobe antennas raises the question whether this technique can be used to accurately measure these antennas. We show that data taken with an open-end waveguide probe and processed with the planar near-field methodology, including probe correction, can be used to accurately measure the sidelobes of very low-sidelobe antennas to levels of -55 dB to -60 dB relative to the main beam peak. A special probe with a null in the direction of the main beam was also used for some of these measurements. This special probe reduced some of the measurement uncertainties but increased the uncertainties due to probe-antenna interactions. We discuss the major sources of uncertainty and show that the probe-antenna interaction is one of the limiting factors in making accurate measurements. The test antenna for this study was a slotted-waveguide array whose low sidelobes were known. The near-field measurements were conducted on the NIST planar near-field facility.