VHF Antenna Far-Field Pattern Measurements at 60 MHz Using an Outdoor Antenna Range for Europa Clipper Mission

Abstract

Improvements to measurements of a VHF folded dipole operating at 55–65 MHz to be used as part of a radar for a mission to one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, are presented. Previous measurements using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or small unmanned aerial system (sUAS) are improved upon by reducing systematic errors and more accurately tracking distances within the measurement system on an outdoor measurement range at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Details of the measurement system setup are presented along with a brief discussion of error sources. Comparing previously collected measurement data with the new measurements reveal an improvement of approximately 0.4 dB in accuracy with an improvement in over 1 dB for error budgets.