Advances in Antenna Measurement and Characterization Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

Recent developments in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) hardware and antenna measurement postprocessing techniques have fostered the development of in-situ antenna measurements using UAVs. Accurate geo-referring of the measurements is one of the most critical issues faced by these systems in order to increase the upper working frequency limit. In this contribution a novel methodology based on simultaneous acquisition of the near field (NF) amplitude on two measurement surfaces using a dual-probe setup on board the UAV is presented. Thanks to it, acquisition time and measurement uncertainties are greatly reduced. System capabilities have been validated by measuring an offset reflector antenna, comparing the results with measurements at spherical range in anechoic chamber.