Inverse method for analyzing the antenna and RCS measurement precision

Abstract

The compact antenna test range (CATR) is one of system for precise antenna and RCS measurement. The main characters of CATR are the field magnitude ripple and the phase ripple in the quite zone. In this paper, using the plane wave spectrum (PWS) and generalized microwave network, we have deduced the quantitative relationship between the antenna (or RCS) measurement precision and the quality of CATR quiet zone. This method is called the inverse method (IM). Using the inverse method, the antenna and RCS measurement errors can be corrected, and the measurement precision can be improved. According to the calculation result, the RCS measurement errors brought over by the ripples in quite zone is larger than the antenna measurement errors under the same conditions.