Data for paper "Improved Broadband Antenna Gain Measurements Through Multipath Mitigation Using Combined Robot Motion Stirring"

This data set is for the figures in the paper titled, "Improved Broadband Antenna Gain Measurements Through Multipath Mitigation Using Combined Robot Motion Stirring". In this paper we describe a technique that uses coordinated motion of two robotic antenna positioners to mitigate the influence of chamber multipath reflections during antenna gain measurements. This technique demonstrates a new application that leverages the capability of modern robotic antenna ranges to accurately position pairs of antennas relative to an anechoic chamber over a wide range of poses. In this technique, through
calibrated kinematic control of the robotic positioners, antenna pair poses are dynamically changed relative to the bounds of the chamber while maintaining the measurement geometry in the reference
frame of the antenna pairs. This creates a scenario where the chamber is effectively moving relative to the reference frame
of the gain measurement geometry, thus resulting in “stirring” of the multipath chamber reflections. Through this stirring process, the effect of multipath reflections can be effectively averaged
out, allowing antenna gain to be recovered even in the presence of appreciable multipath chamber reflections. This technique is demonstrated with the three-antenna gain extrapolation method to improve gain calibrations that involve broad band dual ridge horn antennas. Gain measurement results in the WR430 and WR650 bands that incorporate NIST standard gain horn
reference antennas and lower gain dual ridge broadband horn antennas are presented. We show that antenna gain can be accurately recovered with uncertainties of ≈ ± 0.07 dB, even
when measurements are significantly perturbed by several dB due to chamber multipath reflections caused by the lower gain dual ridge horn antennas.