Fully Coherent UAV-Based Near-Field Measurement and Transformation of the S67-15 m Ground Station Antenna at the German Space Operations Center in Weilheim
Stefan Punzet, Fabian T. Faul, Thomas Mittereder, Christian Oettl, Matthias Ganser, Martin Häusler, Thomas F. Eibert
Abstract
Fully coherent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based near-field measurements of the S67 parabolic ground station antenna in Weilheim, Germany at 2.06392 GHz are presented. The utilized measurement setup involves a vector network analyzer (VNA), radio frequency optical fiber connections, a laser tracking device (LT), and a specially designed light-weight dual-polarized Vivaldi antenna. The measurement data has been collected on a quasi-planar measurement surface in front of the reflector and the far-field patterns are obtained by field transformation from the irregular near-field data. Despite the complexity of this outdoor measurement setup with full exposure to varying weather conditions and the influence of the UAV on the near-field probe antenna, the far-field results show remarkable agreement with satellite based far-field measurement data.