To help deepen your team's knowledge, this paper focuses on measurement

fundamentals related to antenna theory and the evolution of antenna

technology. We will cover the characteristics of many types of antennas:
parabolic reflector, linear arrays, passive electronically scanned array, and
active electronically scanned arrays (AESA). Continuing into the block
diagram, the paper will also present the basics of transmit/receive (T/R)
modules. Going beyond these fundamentals, we will also discuss antenna
measurements and measurement solutions.

1
Lets begin with antenna concepts.

2
Radio waves and microwaves are electromagnetic waves between ~20 MHz
and ~200 GHz that can travel through free space. On Earth, theyre mostly
traveling through the Earths atmosphere, but our atmosphere is a pretty close
approximation to free space. Maxwell's equations describe
how electromagnetic waves are generated by charge and currents and how
they propagate through space.

IEEE defines an antenna as the part of a transmitting or receiving system that

is designed to radiate or receive electromagnetic waves. To send radio waves
from one location to another you need something to do that, and thats exactly
what an antennas does.

Probably the most important parameter of antennas is how its energy is

focused. Almost all antennas transmit and receive radio waves in a desired
pattern or direction. For example, a radio tower reaches people in all directions
or it radiates outward in all directions. Typically, there isnt anyone directly
above or below the tower trying to listen to the radio, so it doesnt radiate
upward or downward.

A radar has a different purpose than a radio tower. A radar usually reaches a
specific, relatively small object or target by radiating a narrowly focused beam
directly at its target. Radiation pattern is probably the most important

3
parameter of antennas so were going to talk a lot more about it later on.

3
 In our previous lecture on the basics of radar, we saw the radar range equation. To recap, the
radar range equation provides us with the maximum detectable range to a target given the
properties of the target, like Radar Cross Section (RCS), and the properties of the radar
system.

Many of the radar system properties are directly related to antenna characteristics and
performance. As you can see from the equation, the range of the radar increases with the
square of the antenna gain and decreases with the antenna loss. Well talk about gain a lot
more later, but it has to do with the directionality of the antenna. The antenna transmit loss is
straightforward, its basically how much energy it loses that doesnt get transmitted and doesnt
contribute to the radar beam. The antenna path loss is the amount of loss due to the physical
environment. Basically, the better the radar antenna is at transmitting and focusing its energy
in a certain direction, the better range it has.

Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2016 4

 As with Radar, many satellite system properties are directly related to antenna characteristics
and performance.

As far as antenna performance goes, the satellite link equation, also known as link budget, is
analogous to the radar range equation. In the satellite link equation, the parameters that are
most relevant to antennas are highlighted above in red. The first link budget parameter of
concern to an antenna engineer, is the transmit antenna gain on the transmitting antenna
(which, as we stated is a measure of the directionality of the antenna). The second parameter
of interest to antenna designers is the cumulative path loss from the ground station to the
satellite in orbit high above the Earth (this can be broken down into the atmospheric losses as
well as propagation losses due to inverse square law power losses). The final parameter of
interest is the receive gain on the receiving antenna (note that the satellite and ground station
can be both the transmitter and receiver).

A lot of satellite applications had previously not needed phased arrays because scanning did
not need to be agile. For instance, a geosynchronous (GEO) satellite is always in the same in
the same spot in the sky from the ground station viewpoint.
Today, however, a lot of satellites are Low Earth Orbit (LEO). LEO satellites are much lower
altitude and revolve around the Earth with 90 minute periods this means that we need many
LEO satellites to cover a given ground location and these ground locations must have rapidly
scanning antennas to track and thus stay in contact with the LEO satellite. Therefore, with the
advent of CubeSat and the so-called New Space arena, as well as more technologically
advanced versions of traditional large scale satellite systems, we have a great need for agile
scanning phased array antennas for Satellite applications.

Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2016 5

These are the equivalent circuits for transmitting and receiving antennas. First
well look at the circuit for the transmitting antenna.

With a transmitting antenna you have a source connected to the antenna

through a transmission line. The source, the transmission line, and the
antenna all have impedance that must be matched. If the impedance of the
source doesnt match the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, it
wont deliver power to the transmission line. If the feedpoint impedance of the
antenna doesnt match the characteristic impedance of the transmission line,
the transmission line wont deliver adequate power. Voltage and current
waves will be reflected at the antenna input back into the transmission line and
set up a standing wave.

As you can see, the feedpoint impedance of the antenna (ZA) is made up of a
resistive part, which is the real part, and a reactive part, which is the imaginary
part. The resistive part is made up of loss resistance (RL) and radiation
resistance (Rr) . Radiation resistance represents the component of the
resistance that is caused by radiation of electromagnetic waves from the
antenna, while the loss resistance represents the component of the resistance
that causes the antenna to heat up. To make the antenna efficient we want to
maximize radiation resistance and minimize loss resistance. The reactive part
of the impedance (XA) is usually undesired because it leads to poor impedance

6
matching with the transmission line. Well discuss the role reactance in
antennas in more detail over the next few slides.

The circuit for the receiving antenna is very similar to the circuit of the
transmitting antenna only in reverse. The antenna absorbs electromagnetic
waves and delivers power to the transmission line, which in turn delivers power
to the receiver. If there is poor impedance matching between the antenna and
transmission line or between the transmission line and the receiver, power will
not adequately be delivered to the receiver.

6
Before we get into how antennas work and their important parameters, lets
take a quick look at the most common types of antennas.

The most common basic antenna is probably the dipole and monopole. The
dipole antenna consists of two symmetrical conductors fed by a balanced feed
line. A monopole antenna consists of a single conductor and ground fed by a
balance feed line. The monopole antenna is a dipole antenna with one of the
conductors replaced by ground. Ground is usually a plane below the
conductor, like Earth.

Most antennas are resonant antennas, which means they achieve certain
voltage and current standing wave patterns on their conductors that is
conducive to radiating and receiving energy. In order to be resonant, the length
of their conductors has to be about a quarter of the wavelength at which they
are designed to transmit and receive. This means that dipoles are usually an
half a wavelength long and monopoles are usually a quarter wavelength long.
Half wavelength long dipoles are called half-wave dipoles and quarter
wavelength long monopoles are called quarter-wave monopoles.

Both dipoles and monopoles are omnidirectional, which means that they
radiate outward in all directions. For a given elevation, they radiate the same
power as a function of azimuth. As you can see, the 3D radiation pattern of a

7
dipole looks like a donut. In the radiation pattern the dipole is oriented on the
vertical or z axis, so as you can see, the theres little to no power above and
below the dipole, but theres a lot of power around it. Both are narrowband,
which means they transmit and receive best at their designed wavelengths.
This is directly related to the fact that theyre resonant antennas.

Although theyre omnidirectional and narrowband on their own, they can be

used to build highly directional antennas and wideband antennas. For
example, a Yagi-Uda antenna uses an array of parallel dipoles called parasitic
elements to direct and reflect energy from certain directions to a dipole that is
connected to the transmitter/receiver called the driven element. The log-
periodic antenna uses an array of parallel dipoles of varying lengths to receive
radio waves of various wavelengths, making it wider-band.

Some other examples of dipoles are turnstile antennas, which consist of two
dipole antennas at right angles and corner reflector antennas, which use
reflective plates behind the antenna to direct energy to it.

Some examples of monopole antennas are whip antennas, which are straight
rods, seen on cars and radios. Rubber ducky antennas, which are short helical
antennas usually encased in rubber, are used on portable radio devices like
walkie-talkies. T and inverted L antennas are large simple wire antennas that
make the shapes their names describe and are used for amateur radio.
Inverted F antennas are microstrip antennas in the shape of an F. Because
theyre planar and low profile they're usually used in mobile wireless devices.

7
Most antennas are resonant antennas, such as the simple dipole antenna we
discussed earlier. An antenna is said to be resonant if its input impedance is
purely resistive (i.e. it has no reactance). At radio wave and microwave
frequencies, an antenna basically acts like a transmission line terminated with
an open. Incident voltage and current waves traveling down the antennas
conductors reflect at the antennas terminals to give reflected waves. The
incident and reflected waves interfere to give a standing wave pattern.

Heres a graph of the voltage and current standing waves set up on antenna of
arbitrary length. Note that these graphs show the envelopes of the standing
waves, the actual voltage and current at a given point along the antenna
changes as a function of time.

8
A dipole antenna becomes resonant when its total length is ~/2, which means
the length of each conductor is ~/4. Because the length of the conductors is
/4, both the incident voltage and current waves undergo a /4 or 90 phase
shift as they travel down the conductor from the feed to the terminal. But, the
phase shift caused by the reflection at the terminal is different for the voltage
and current waves. Because the terminal acts as an open, the voltage
undergoes a 0 phase shift, while the current undergoes a 90 phase shift. The
reflected voltage and current waves then undergo another 90 phase shift as
they travel from the terminal back to the feed. The net result is that that the
current undergoes a total 180 phase shift and adds destructively at the feed
and the current undergoes a 360 phase shift and adds constructively at the
feed. As you can see in the graph of the voltage and current standing waves,
the voltage has a node at the feed, while the current is maximal at the feed.

9
Although the envelope of the voltage and current standing waves appear out
of phase, the actual values of the voltage and current at the feed are in-phase.
When voltage and current are in-phase, the impedance is purely resistive (i.e.
it has no reactive component). The reason for this can be seen by looking at
the phasor form of complex impedance. In this equation, the amplitude is
equal to the ratio of the voltage magnitude and current magnitude and the
phase is equal to the difference between the voltage phase and current phase.
If the difference between the voltage phase and current phase is 0, the
complex exponential goes to zero and youre left with the real part.

A purely resistive impedance makes matching an antenna to a transmission

line relatively easy because the characteristic impedance of a lossless
transmission line is also purely resistive. When an antenna is matched well
with the transmission line, power is delivered from the transmission line
to the antenna in transmit mode and sufficient power is delivered from
the antenna to the transmission line well in receive mode. In transmission
line theory, when all of the power is delivered from the transmission line to the
antenna, the reflection coefficient () and the S11 S-Parameter are both 0 and
you do not get a standing wave on the transmission line.

Now, if the voltage and current are not in-phase at the feed, the impedance will
have a reactive component and it will be difficult to match the antenna to the

10
transmission line. When the antenna is poorly matched to the transmission
line, restricted power is delivered to the antenna. Some of the incident power
on the antenna will be reflected and set up standing waves on the
transmission line. In this case, and S11 will be greater than zero and in the
extreme case where no power is delivered to the antenna and S11 will be 1.

10
An antenna is said to be electrically short when its length is much less than its
resonant length. Electrically short antennas are used when its difficult to
construct the antenna or theres just not enough room to have an antenna that
long.

In an electrically short antenna, the voltage and current are out-of-phase at the
feed, making the impedance partially reactive. Based on the previous slide we
know that when the impedance has a reactive component, its difficult to match
it to transmission line and power is poorly delivered to the antenna. To help
deal with this, we can try to cancel the reactance in the antenna.

The normal reactance in an electrically short antenna is dominated by series

capacitance (or negative capacitance) so to cancel it we need to introduce
inductive capacitance (or positive capacitance). To introduce inductive
capacitance we can put a loading coil near the middle or the base of the
antenna.

Although the loading coil will cancel the reactance, giving a purely resistive
impedance, the resistive impedance will be much lower than the resistive
impedance of an antenna thats the true resonant length. Because of this, an
additional impedance matching network is often needed between the
transmission line and the antenna. Additionally, as an electrically short antenna

11
gets smaller, its radiation resistance dramatically decreases. The combination
of the decreased radiation resistance and increased loss resistance due to the
coil make the antenna much less efficient than its resonant length counterpart.

11
Lets use a dipole as an example to show how an antenna radiates. The goal
of a dipole is to get the current to add in-phase and maximize its strength.

Lets start with a balanced transmission line terminated with an open. With a
balanced transmission line, when the current is going in one direction on the
top conductor, its going in the opposite direction on the bottom conductor. But,
what happens if we start to unfold the transmission line by bending the ends of
the conductors outward?

As you can see in the partially unfolded transmission line, the current in the
bent portions of the conductors is now flowing in the same direction and
adding in-phase. This is the current thats ultimately going to produce the
radiation in the antenna.

If you unfold the transmission line completely you can see that all the current
in both conductors is flowing in the same direction and adding in-phase. When
the current flows in one of the conductors we get charge build up at the
terminals. On the positive side, we will get positive charge, and on the
negative side, we will get negative charge. This buildup of charge creates a
dipole, which is where the dipole antenna gets its name. As well see more in
the next slide, as the dipole is driven by the AC voltage source and current
flows back and forth in its conductors, its going to produce the antennas

12
electromagnetic waves or radiation.

12
Now, as the dipole is driven by the AC voltage source, current oscillates back
and forth in its conductors at the same frequency as the source. As current
oscillates in the conductors it creates an oscillating electric field or an electric
wave. Here small t is the time and big T is the period of the electric wave. We
can see at time big T/4, a quarter wavelength of the electric wave has been
created, at time big T/2, a half wavelength of the electric wave has been
created, and finally at time big T, a full wavelength of the electric wave has
been created.

The oscillating current also gives rise to a magnetic wave that is perpendicular
to the electric wave. The combination of the electric wave and magnetic wave
give us an electromagnetic wave. As we can see in this image, the magnetic
wave is perpendicular to the electric wave and both waves are perpendicular
to the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic wave the wave is
propagating in the direction of the x-axis.

This image shows the electromagnetic wave pattern associated with a dipole
antenna. The waves look a little different from the wave above because its
showing the near-field region - well talk more about the electromagnetic field
regions later in the presentation. The near-field pattern here is governed by
Maxwells Equations, in fact Maxwells equations define electromagnetic
waves and govern the entire process of creating electromagnetic waves. To go

13
deeper into the math, take a look at Maxwells equations.

13
Lets now take a look at Antenna Parameters.

14
Reciprocity is one of the most useful properties in all of antenna theory. It is a
direct consequence of the reciprocity theorem of electromagnetism (more
detail below). Put simply: if an antenna is made of linear materials, it will have
identical transmit and receive properties. This means that its transmit and
receive radiation patterns are identical. Even without fully understanding
radiation patterns, it is intuitive to see that it this reciprocity property is quite
convenient to antenna design and test. For example, if we are designing a
transceiver system with a single antenna (for example a radar, a satellite or a
mobile phone), we can assume that we only need to test either the antennas
receive properties or its transmit properties reciprocity ensures that testing
and characterizing one of these also means we have characterized the other
automatically.

(More technical details). The reciprocity theorem of electromagnetism refers to

a variety of related theorems (such as Lorentz reciprocity which states that we
can interchange the position of an oscillating current and its subsequent
electric field and in doing so, their relationship does not change) that describe
how time-harmonic electric current distributions and their related
electromagnetic fields behave for linear-time invariant (LTI) systems. Non
linear media such as magnetic materials that exhibit hysteresis do not exhibit
reciprocity but the vast majority of materials used in antenna design are
considered linear/reciprocal material.

15
The EM Spectrum is electromagnetic radiation from DC to daylight and
beyond. It consists of different frequencies of electromagnetic radiation from
the Hz range to the 10^20 Hz range. Assuming an ideal situation, frequency
and wavelength are related by
c=
,
Henceforth, we will refer to electromagnetic radiation simply as waves either
radio waves for 6 GHz and under, microwaves for 6 GHz to 50 GHz, and
mmWaves for 50 GHz and above. In antenna design, we are generally
concerned about radiation from the low MHz range to the high tens of GHz. In
terms of the physical size of the wavelength in this region, we can see that the
wavelength scale ranges from the very large building-scale size in the kHz
range, to the size of needlepoints in the high microwave region.

The lower set of lettered boxes in purple and blue are frequency bands, or
areas of the spectrum used for specific applications and often licensed for
these applications by governing bodies. The IEEE frequency bands are shown
above in purple and the EU/NATO Bands are below in blue.

The bands of interest for RADAR and EW were traditionally from VHF to K
band or up to about 20 GHz. Early warning radar signals are lower frequency
than fire control radars because they have to travel farther distances up to

16
hundreds of kilometers and lower frequency EM radiation has lower losses
from atmospheric radiation and travels farther. Similarly, Fire Control radars
need to be higher frequency because they require higher PRFs (lower PRIs) to
track fast moving objects and thus their spectrum is wider and therefore
fractional bandwidth of the system would be impractical for modern day
transmitters at lower frequencies.

The highest frequency bands are utilized by Satellite and 5G at 28 GHz and 39
GHz and there are applications like automotive radar and future wireless LAN
up in the mmWave frequencies far beyond 50 GHz. With new research into
lower atmospheric attenuations at higher frequencies than previously thought,
even Satellite has applications at these higher frequencies.

16
The impedance of an antenna is an extremely important parameter to consider
in antenna design. Impedance in general is simply the ratio of the voltage (V)
to the current (I) at a given point on the transmission line. This ratio is not
generally not constant for the distributed element transmission line model
(when the wavelength, , is on the order of the length of the line (l) or smaller,
<l ). When the load, generator, and transmission line are perfectly matched,
there are no reflections, and the ratio V/I is constant. The impedance point that
defines the input impedance of the antenna is called the feed point and is the
location where the transmission line connects to the antenna input.

The impedance of free-space is 377 ohms and most transmission lines and
corresponding transmitters/receivers are 50 ohms. Conceptually, think of an
antenna as an impedance transformer that converts 50 Ohms transmissions
on a transmission line to the 377 ohm free-space environment. In the example
above, we have a dipole antenna. As we saw before, the dipole is just a folded
transmission line. In the dipole antenna, the current must necessarily go to
zero at the end points of the wire. When the dipole length is one wavelength
() and if we start at one end of the dipole, the current magnitude is zero, goes
to a local maximum at a length equal to /4 , is zero at the feed (l=/2) , goes
to another maximum at l=3/4 and then finally to zero again at the other end
where l=. The significance of this is that the impedance seen by the
transmitter is the ratio V/I when the current is zero this leads to an infinite

17
impedance! The transmitter cannot possibly provide enough power to
overcome an infinite impedance and so this full-wave (1) dipole will not
radiate. In contrast, in the half-wave dipole will radiate because the current is
maximum at the feed point and the impedance is thus finite and the transmitter
can supply the power required. The antenna will optimally radiate when the
imaginary component of the impedance, called reactance is minimized and all
that is left is the real component called resistance. It turns out, the antenna
will radiate at odd multiples of wavelength and some bandwidth around these
wavelengths. As we will see next, the antenna bandwidth will be an important
constraint on signal bandwidth.

17
As we saw previously, the impedance of antenna puts a constraint on the operating frequency
range of the antenna, or bandwidth. The fractional bandwidth is the bandwidth of an antenna
as a fraction of its operating frequency. The fractional bandwidth of a half-wave dipole is
normally about 7%. So, for example, a 1 GHz antenna would operate efficiently between about
965 MHz to 1035 MHz. One could use larger diameter conductors to increase the operating
bandwidth.

The reason we care about wide operating bandwidths is because operating bandwidths of
antennas are directly correlated to the signal bandwidths one can use in their transmitter
and/or receiver system. With todays satellite communications systems, next generation 5G
mobile radio systems, and wide-band radars, wide bandwidth antennas are a requirement.

The top right figure shows a frequency vs. time (aka FM Demodulation) plot for a chirped
radar signal. A chirp signal is a linear frequency sweep over time. The total frequency deviation
defines the bandwidth of signal. The wider the bandwidth the chirp, the finer resolution target
the radar get resolve for a given pulse width. This allows the radar to lower the peak pulse
power and widen the pulse, decreasing the peak/average performance requirements on the
power amplifier in the radar transmitter for a given range. The figure below the FM Demod is
the frequency spectrum of two chirped signals plotted in MATLAB. The bottom left figure
shows three radar threat-emitters one hopping non-chirp pulsed radar, one hopping chirped
pulsed radar and a third stationary wide-band chirped radar. This figure shows these emitters
using the Real-Time-Spectrum Analysis (RTSA) option on the N9040B UXA Signal Analyzer.

(More technical details about chirp signals): To solve the range-versus-resolution optimization
problem, many radar systems use pulse compression or modulation. The linear frequency

18
chirp is, in concept, a simple modulation to create and to decompress. Frequency modulating
(FM) the radar pulse with a linear voltage ramp creates a frequency-chirped pulse. The chirped
pulse is then transmitted, as an uncompressed pulse would normally be. This gives the best of
both worlds: long pulse widths for easy detection by the receiver due to the longer integration
time and higher total energy as well as the ability to resolve close together targets and get
better range resolution.

Source of chirp spectrum:

http://rfmw.em.keysight.com/wireless/helpfiles/n7620a/Content/Main/Polynomial_Chirp.htm

18
Directivity and gain are two related antenna parameters that often get
confused.

First lets talk about directivity. In order to understand directivity, lets first talk
about isotropic antennas. Isotropic antennas have unity directivity. The power
of the transmitter is spread out equally in all directions, spherically, by the
antenna. It is important to note that there are no actual isotropic antennas in
practice building one is not physically realizable but it is a useful concept and
1
frame of reference. We define directivity, D, by = 1 2 2
.
00 (,)
4
This equation just normalizes the peak power of the antenna in any direction to
1 and place it in the numerator, then defines the denominator to be the
average power integrated across all of 3D space. This means this seemingly
complex equation is really just the ratio of the normalized peak power to the
normalized averaged power. Isotropic antennas have a directivity equal to 1 as
both the denominator and numerator are equal to 1.

Contrary to isotropic antennas, directional antennas do have directivity greater

than unity. That is, the denominator in the directivity equation is not equal one
and thus the entire equation is greater than one. In practical terms, it means
that directional antennas have a peak power in a specific direction that is
greater than the spatial average power.

19
Gain is closely related to directivity in fact it is directly proportional to it. Gain
is simply the directivity multiplied by the radiation efficiency of the antenna, .
The radiation efficiency is simply the proportion of energy from the transmitter
that actually gets radiated out as RF/microwave energy. Colloquially, directivity
and gain are used interchangeably but there is a slight difference. Usually, gain
is expressed logarithmically on a decibel scale and reported in units of dBi
decibels with respect to isotropic.

The main takeaway here is that same power is radiated in both cases of
isotropic and directional antennas. The fact that an antenna has gain doesnt
mean the antenna has an active element- it simply means that the energy is
directed in a particular direction and is a measure of this peak energy verses
the overall energy that is averaged over 3-space. An easier, and equivalent,
equation to understand and use for gain is the peak intensity (or power density
per unit solid angle in watts/steradian) over the intensity of isotropic (in which

peak and average intensity is the same). The equation for this is: = . The


decibel gain is, likewise, = 10 log .

Most antennas have gain and thus have a corresponding and characteristic
radiation pattern (e.g. a dipole has a donut shaped radiation pattern) which we
will talk about next.

19
The antenna radiation pattern is a plot of gain vs angle or direction (there is
both azimuth and elevation angles or two plots to fully describe 3-D space).

On top right figure: The coordinate system used in antenna design and
analysis is a modified spherical coordinate system. In mathematics, the polar
angle is referenced from the z-direction toward they x-y plane. In antenna
design, we use the elevation angle instead of the polar angle and reference it
in the x-y plane toward the z direction. The azimuth angle sweeps out the x-y
plane and is referenced to the x-direction. In traditional spherical coordinate
systems theta and phi are sometimes used to mean azimuth angle and
sometimes polar angle depending on if youre a mathematician or scientist.
Antenna engineers can avoid this confusion by simply referring to them as
azimuth and elevation this is unambiguous.

On the top left: we see the 3D patterns of both Isotropic (left) and Dipole
(right). The color denotes gain over isotropic the dark red is higher gain and
the green is the middle color indicating 0 dB gain (unity) over isotropic. Note
that the dipole is circular along the x-y plane (elevation angle is 0 degrees) but
it is 2.15 dB over isotropic in this plane and then as we increase elevation
angle, we get less and less gain (although it is still circular). Then in the middle

20
(along the z axis), we have negative infinity gain (zero power radiated). In 3D
space this means that the isotropic antenna is perfectly spherical and the
dipole is like a doughnut.

Bottom Plots: These show different cuts or views of radiation patterns o

isotropic (red) and dipole (blue). The bottom left two plots show elevation
pattern (holding azimuth angle = 0 degrees). We see both the polar view and
the linear view of gain vs. elevation angle (same information just a different
way to visualize the gain). On the Bottom Right plots, we see the azimuth
patterns of the isotropic and dipole antennas. Notice that both the isotropic and
dipole antennas are constant gain azimuthally. This means that both appear to
be circles in the polar plot of azimuth angle and both appear to be straight
lines in the linear plot of azimuth angle. An important thing to note though is
that both are constant gain in this angle, but the dipole is 2.15 dB higher (a
larger circle and a larger straight line on polar and linear respectively).

20
The above figure shows the various properties and terms associated with an
antenna gain pattern.

(Call out the various terms):

Boresight: The boresight is the direction the antenna is designed to

point. This is usually the direction of maximum gain, and the other angular
parameters are typically defined relative to the boresight.

Main lobe: The primary or maximum gain beam of the antenna. The
shape of this beam is defined in terms of its gain versus angle from boresight.

Beamwidth: This is the width of the beam (usually in degrees). It is

defined in terms of the angle from boresight that the gain is reduced by some
amount. If no other information is given, beamwidth usually refers to the
3-dB beamwidth. We have subtitled this slide beamwidth because its is one
of the most important of these terms.

3-dB beamwidth: The two-sided angle (in one plane) between the
angles at which the antenna gain is reduced to half of the gain at the bore-
sight (i.e., 3-dB gain reduction). Note that all beamwidths are two-sided
values. For example, in an antenna with a 3-dB beamwidth of 10 the gain is

21
3 dB down 5 from the boresight, so the two 3-dB points are 10 apart.

n dB beamwidth: The beamwidth can be defined for any level of

gain reduction.

Side lobes: Antennas have other than intended beams as shown in the
figure. The back lobe is in the opposite direction from the main beam, and
the side lobes are at Other angles.

Angle to the first side lobe: This is the angle from the boresight of the
main beam to the maximum gain direction of the first side lobe. Note
this is a single-sided value and the beamwidth is two sided!

Angle to the first null: This the angle from the boresight to the minimum-gain
point between the
the main beam and the first side lobe (also single-sided).

Side-lobe gain/sidelobe level: This is usually given in terms of the gain

relative to the
main-beam boresight gain (a large negative number of dB). Antennas are not
designed for some specific side-lobe level and thus the side lobes are
considered bad,
and thus certified by the manufacturer to be below some specified level.

Isotropic sidelobe level: Given as sidelobe gain (a positive or negative

number) relative to the isotropic level of 0 dB.

21
In order to understand antenna polarization, we need to first understand plane
wave polarization. A plane wave is an electromagnetic (EM) wave that travels
in one direction and has no field variation in either perpendicular direction at a
given instant in time at a given point in space.

When a wave is linearly polarized, the electric field (also known as the E-field)
vector at a given point and instant in time varies in magnitude but really only
has two directions relative to a fixed coordinate system: up or down (0 or -180
degrees). If we define a coordinate system as being relative to an Earth ground, with the Y
direction being vertical, Z being parallel to the ground and orthogonal to Y, and X also being
parallel to the ground and orthogonal to both Y and Z. We are assuming that the Z direction
is the direction of propagation of the electromagnetic wave. With this in mind, we can then
define Vertical Linearly Polarized (see above left) as having the E-field vector point along the
Y axis, whereas Horizontal Linearly Polarized (top right birds eye view) has the E-field
vector pointed along with X direction, parallel to the ground.

The final option we have for linearly polarized waves is to have the E-field
vector not aligned to any of the three axes. In this case, the wave is called
Rotated Linearly Polarized and still has only two directions up or down but
in a direction that is the vector composite of the X and Y directions.

A slightly more complicated form of polarization is called circular polarization,

as can be seen in the two figures at the bottom right. In circular polarization,

22
the E-field vector no longer moves just up and down with respect to time it
moves around the direction of propagation (here the Z axis). If we look at
circular polarization at one point on the Z axis over time, we would see the E-
field vector just rotating in a circle around that point hence the name. If we
look at a circular polarized wave over distance along the Z axis, we will see a
corkscrew like pattern. The direction that the E-field vector rotates around the
Z axis defines the handedness of the circular polarization: when the E-field
vector rotates clockwise it is called Right-Hand Circular Polarization (RHCP)
and when the E-field vector rotates counterclockwise it is called Left-Hand
Circular Polarization (LHCP).

Antennas that are designed to radiate waves that are polarized in a specific
way are defined as being themselves polarized in that way. For example, a
antenna that propagates vertical linearly polarized waves is called a Vertical
Linearly Polarized Antenna.

One application where polarization is used to the advantage of the antenna

designer is in radar. A radar receiver observes the return echo or backscatter
from a target such as an aircraft. However, backscatter from non-targets like
rain also occurs but a circular polarized antenna can help mitigate rain
backscatter. This works because rain is composed of spherical water droplets
and will backscatter the opposite handed polarization (RHCP to LHCP or vice
versa) of the electromagnetic wave that is incident upon it whereas actual
targets will backscatter the same handed polarization!

22
When the polarization type varies between transmit and receive antennas, it
causes large losses (go through above scenarios).

Cross polarization is when we have two completely opposite polarizations (ie

right hand circular to left hand circular or vertical linear to horizontal linear).
This is where we have the largest loss (25 dB).

An EW trick is to use both RHCP and LHCP antennas for the receive channel.
If one antenna receives a signal that is 25 dB higher than the other, the original
transmitting antenna is polarized in the same manner as the receive antenna
with the higher signal level. If both are the same signal level, then you know
the transmitting antenna is some kind of linearly polarized type (there will be a
3 dB loss in both RHCP and LHCP receive antennas but this is minimal
compared to a cross polarization case). This will enable the highest receive
power while utilizing the smallest number of antennas.

23
Call out above image and the different scan labeled scan patterns and where
they might be used (search, track, etc.).

Radar antenna scan patterns are somewhat unique because they usually
involve a scanning or moving antenna beam dictated by the nature of the
radars mission (above). For example, a ship might have a rotating scan
pattern to view objects on the ocean surface in all directions. A fighter jet likely
employs a forward sector scan for its weather radar. A guided missile cruiser
may use a phased-array antenna for its targeting radar, and the missile
launched from the ship could well use a conical-scanning terminal radar.

Testing ELINT and EW systems that respond to these types of threats requires
the ability to produce the appropriate pulse pattern that mimics the scanning
radars. Keysights Signal Studio for pulse building supports a variety of
antenna scan patterns, including circular patterns commonly found on ships,
sector patterns found on aircraft, conical patterns often used on missiles, and
raster scans typical of targeting phased arrays.

Signal Studio for pulse building and Signal Studio for multi-emitter scenario
generation (MESG) features a variety of antenna pattern simulations that can
be applied to waveforms. This feature is particularly useful for ELINT and EW
applications in which the system to be tested needs to be immersed in a

24
signal-rich environment that mimics real-world threats that may not be
available. Many of these ELINT and EW systems use antenna scan pattern
information to identify the particular threat being received.

24
There are three field regions that we concern ourselves with in antenna
design. These field regions define the behavior of the propagating
electromagnetic radiation and are constrained within differing boundary
distances, R, from the source antenna.

Starting with the area closest to the source antenna, we have the reactive near
3
field. This field region exists when < 0.62 where is the antenna

aperture and is the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation and can be
seen above as the region between the source antenna and the first red dotted
line. In this region, the fields are predominately reactive fields, which means
the electric field and magnetic fields are out of phase by 90 degrees. This is
not the same as the two field vectors orthogonality the electric field and
magnetic field vectors are always orthogonal to each other and thus always
point away from each other regardless of their phase relationship. The two
fields phase relationship is their intensity at a given point in space and time
not their field vectors pointing direction at that point in space and time.

The field region in the middle of the two dotted-lines above is called the
Radiative Near Field region. It is defined by the following boundary conditions:
3 2
0.62
< < 2 . In this region, the radiating fields begin to emerge,

25
however they are not dominant and vary with distance. This region is also
sometimes called the Fresnel region.

The Far Field region is the region where reactive fields significantly die off and
the dominant fields are radiative. The region is defined by the boundary
condition: 22 /. When the boundary condition is true, the radiation
pattern of the source antenna does not vary with distance. Also, in this region,
the electric and magnetic fields are in-phase, but as always, are still
orthogonal. A last point about the Far Field is the test or receive antenna will
tend to see a planar wave front that doesnt vary by much in phase across the
antennas aperture. This is the region upon which we place our receive
antennas and is usually the intended operating region for an antenna.

25
In the previous slide, we discussed how the Far Field was defined by the
boundary condition: 22 /. In reality, this is just an approximation! If we
place our planar aperture test antenna right on the boundary such that =
22
we will notice that there is significant phase deviation, , 22.5.
,

This is a deviation from the ideal plane wave phase front that would be uniform
across the antenna aperture in both amplitude and phase. This can cause
large changes in nulls and side-lobe levels in the antenna radiation pattern of

the source antenna. For example, if we have a source antenna with a
22
radiation pattern, the measured first null at = will be -23 dB rather than

the expected dB.

26
Now lets look at aperture antennas.

27
Aperture antennas are highly directional antennas that are usually used at and
above microwave frequencies. They consist of a small feed antenna, usually a
dipole, inside a three-dimensional guide structure. The guiding structure is
usually some variation of a slot, horn or dish. The guiding structure has an
aperture that can transmit or receive a relatively narrow beam of energy in a
specific direction. Because theyre so directional, theyre often used for things
like satellite communication and radar. Although their directionality is very
useful, it means that they have to be physically moved if they want to point in
different directions. For example, the dish antennas used in radars can usually
be mechanically steered in elevation and azimuth so they can point at different
targets.

Probably the most common type of aperture antenna is the parabolic reflector.
Parabolic reflectors consist of a paraboloidal dish that is used to direct
transmitted radio waves into a beam and focus received radio waves. A
Cassegrain reflector is just a slight variation on a standard parabolic reflector.
Parabolic reflectors are used for everything from radar to radio telescopes.
Were going to talk more about them in the next slide.

Horn antennas consist of a horn shaped metal waveguide that directs

transmitted radio waves into a beam and gulps received radio waves. Theyre
often used as feed antennas for other aperture antennas like parabolic

28
reflectors and as measurement antennas to characterize and calibrate other
antennas.

A slot antenna consists of some sort of waveguide with slots cut out of it to
radiate and receive radio waves. Slot antennas are used for some radar
antennas and cellular base station sector antennas.

28
Parabolic reflectors consist of a concave paraboloidal reflector or dish that is
used to collimate transmitted radio waves into a beam and focus received
radio waves. The dish is usually made of a reflective metallic material. In a
standard parabolic reflector, also called a front feed parabolic reflector, the
transmitter or feed is suspended at the focus of the dish. Radio waves are
transmitted from the feed and towards the dish. They reflect off the dish into a
collimated plane wave along the axis of the dish with a relatively narrow
beamwidth. Although the radio waves travel different distances from the feed
to the dish, the total distance they travel from the feed to the wavefront is the
same this means that all the radio waves associated with wavefront are in-
phase.

One issue with parabolic reflectors is feed spillover. Feed spillover is when
some of the energy from the feed falls outside the edge of the dish. The
spillover energy is wasted and doesnt contribute to the main beam, which of
course reduces gain. Additionally, the spillover creates backlobes that can
cause other problems, like interference and increased ground noise.

A Cassegrain reflector is similar to a front feed parabolic reflector, except its

feed isnt located at the focus of the dish, its located at or behind the middle of
the dish. Radio waves are transmitted from the feed towards a hyperboloidal
convex subreflector. They reflect off the subreflector to the dish, where like the

29
standard parabolic reflector they reflect off the dish into a collimated plane
wave along the axis of the dish. To be more specific about the geometry of the
Cassegrain reflector, the feed is located at the far focus of the hyperboloidal
subreflector and the focus of the paraboloidal primary reflector coincides with
the near focus of the hyperboloidal subreflector. There are several advantages
of a Cassegrain parabolic reflector over a front feed parabolic reflector. The
biggest advantage is that the feed is moved from in front of the dish to on or
behind the dish, which gets feeds with bulky electronics out of the way of the
outgoing beam.

29
Effective area describes how good an antenna is at receiving the energy
associated with an incoming plane wave. As we can see from this gain
equation, the gain of an antenna is directly proportional to its effective area
the larger the effective area, the greater the gain.

Although for most antennas effective area isnt directly related to physical size,
it is for aperture antennas - the larger the physical diameter or area of an
aperture antenna, the larger the effective area. Approximating the effective
area of the antenna with the physical area gives us these equations. In the
Gain vs Aperture Diameter plot, the larger the diameter of the antenna the
larger the gain. The smaller the wavelength of the radio waves are relative to
the diameter, the larger the gain.

In addition to giving greater gain, a larger diameter also gives a narrower

beamwidth. From the half-power beamwidth (HPBW) equation, the diameter is
inversely proportional to beamwidth. The smaller the wavelength of the radio
waves are relative to the diameter, the narrower the beamwidth.

The ability to increase the gain and beamwidth of aperture antennas by

increasing their physical size is what makes them popular for applications that
require relatively large gain and narrow beamwidth.

30
Lets take a look at array and phased array antennas.

31
An antenna array is made up of multiple antennas, sometimes called
elements, working together. The elements can be relatively simple, such as a
dipole, or relatively complex, such as a Transmit/Receive Module (TRM). Well
talk more TRMs later in the presentation. The individual elements of an
antenna array are usually configured to have a specific current amplitude and
phase relationship. For simple arrays, the relationship is fixed based on how
the antennas are oriented relative to each other and how far apart the
antennas are from each other like this microstrip antenna. For more complex
arrays, like this phased array antenna, the relationship can be adjusted
electronically such arrays are called electronically steerable because the
beam can be formed and steered electronically.

A collinear array consist of several dipoles fed in-phase in a vertical line.

Theyre often used for land mobile radio systems and cellular base station
sector antennas.

Broad-side antennas consist of parallel dipoles. Broad-side antennas are fed

in-phase, while end-fire antennas are fed 180 out of phase. The two different
phase relationships give two different radiation patterns that well discuss on
the next slide.

Microstrip antennas are antennas fabricated on microstrip and are often made

32
into arrays.

Phased array antennas are arrays where the phase of each element can be
shifted or adjust electronically. We cover those more extensively later in the
presentation.

32
As we can see, the above image is the type of antenna and the image below is
their corresponding radiation pattern. The radiation patterns show the gain as
a function of elevation, where 90 is straight up and 270 is straight down.

The collinear array consists of several parallel dipoles lined up end-to-end and
fed in-phase. Because theyre lined up end-to-end and in-phase, their current
adds in-phase. This creates a radiation pattern similar to a single dipole, but
with higher gain. In fact, doubling the number of antennas in the collinear array
will double the gain.

The broadside array consists of several parallel dipoles separated by a

distance of /2 and fed in-phase. For the dipoles to be fed in-phase, the
transmission lines need to be crossed between each antenna. This
configuration produces a highly directional bidirectional radiation pattern
whose axis is perpendicular or broadside to the plane of the array.

The end-fire array also consists of two parallel dipoles separated by a distance
of /2 and fed in-phase. This configuration also produces a highly directional
bidirectional radiation pattern, but instead of its axis being perpendicular to the
plane of the array its in the plane of the array. If more than two dipoles are
added to the array and the space between them is properly decreased, you
can create a highly directional unidirectional array that means instead of

33
having two lobes, it would have one.

33
A phased array antenna is an antenna array whose individual elements can be
set to specific (different) amplitude and phase relationships. Youll hear them
referred to as electronically scanned arrays a lot of the time.

The images at the bottom show a single antenna, a regular array, and a
phased array. The phased array has phase shifters that allows us to adjust the
phase for each individual element.

The capabilities of phased array antennas are used to increase gain and
directionality, create relatively narrow beams (which is called beamforming),
and to allow for electronic steering (which is called beam steering). Electronic
steering is obviously a lot faster than mechanical steering, which makes
phased arrays great for applications like high performance RADAR/EW
systems.

34
Beamforming is accomplished by adjusting the amplitude and phase of the
individual elements so that the radio waves they emit constructively and
destructively interfere in the desired way. Because theres such fine control
over the amplitude and phase of the individual elements, very narrow beams
can be formed.

There are multiple ways to phase shift the individual elements, but the simplest
way is to use delay lines that can be turned on and off between the elements
and the source or receiver. Beamforming can be used for both transmit and
receive. For transmit, the signal from the source to each element is simply
delayed using the delay lines. For receive, the signal from each element to the
receiver is delayed and then all of the signals are summed - this process is
often called delay and sum.

The beam can be steered to point in different directions by simply adjusting the
amplitude and phase of each element. Because the amplitude and phase are
adjusted electronically, beam steering is almost instantaneously.

The fact that phased arrays can create very narrow beams and be steered
almost instantaneously, makes them great for applications like high
performance RADAR/EW systems. A single phased array radar on a warship
can track multiple surface targets, track multiple air targets, and guide in-flight

35
missiles simultaneously.

35
The phase-increment is the necessary phase shift between adjacent elements
to achieve a certain beam angle or direction (s).

In the second equation, the ratio of 360 to the phase shift is equal to the ratio
of the wavelength of the radio waves being transmitted () to the distance x.
Solving for the phase shift gives us the third equation the phase shift is equal
to 360 times x over .

If we work out the geometry, s is also the angle here. That means x is the side
of a right triangle opposite s and d is the hypotenuse of the right triangle.
Substituting the first equation into the third equation gives us the fourth
equation the phase shift is equal to 360 times d sin s over .

For example, if the wavelength is 5 cm, d is 10 10 cm, and the desired beam
angle is 42, each element has to be separated by 481.78. But, because the
signal is periodic we can subtract 360 and each element has to be separated
by 121.78.

36
There are two main types of phased arrays, passive electronically scanned
phased arrays or PESAs and active electronically scanned phased array or
AESAs.

PESAs have a centralized architecture where all elements are connected to a

single transmitter/receiver.

AESAs have a distributed architecture where each element has its own
Transmitter/Receiver module or TR module.

Although AESAs are usually much more complex and expensive than PESAs,
the fact that most of the electronics is moved up to the individual elements can
decrease your loss quite a bit.

Well take a closer look at the architecture of centralized transmitter/receivers

and TR modules in the next few slides.

37
Heres the architecture of a basic transmitter/receiver.

We have a transmit path on top and a receive path on the bottom that both
connect a duplex thats used to switch between the two.

In the receive path we have a waveform generator, that generates a low

frequency signal. The low frequency signal is then amplified and filtered and
ultimately upconverted to the RF or microwave frequency of the signal we
want to transmit. After the signal is upconverted its filtered again and then
amplified with a high power amplifier. The high power amplifier gets the signal
to the power level needed for transmission.

In the receive path we receive the RF of microwave signal, filter it and amplify
it with a low noise amplifier to avoid introducing additional noise and
decreasing the signal to noise ratio. After amplifying the signal, we down
covert it to a much lower frequency then amplify and filter it. Down convert it to
a much lower frequency to feed it to an ADC. The ADC digitizes the signal so it
can be processed by a DSP chain.

This block diagram only shows one stage of conversion, but there are usually
multiple stages of conversion to get the signals to the desired frequencies.

38
TR modules move part of the transmit/receive path upfront. Having the
transmit/receive function distributed to each module on the array makes them
more flexible and helps prevent loss.

Heres the architecture of a basic TR module. As you can see, each TR

module has its own phase shifter and attenuator. Additionally, on the transmit
path theyll have a high powered amplifier and on the receive path theyll have
a limiter and low noise amplifier. Youll also usually have some kind of switch
or circulator connect the antenna to the transmit and receive paths.

39
AESAs are rapidly moving towards all digital TR module architectures because
they give a lot of flexibility and additional capability on the transmit and receive
side.

Heres the architecture of a basic digital TR module. At the front you have all of
the RF circuitry, which includes everything we saw in the basic TR module
architecture on the previous slide, as well as down conversion on the receive
path and up conversion on the transmit path. On the receive path, the down
converted signal is digitized with an ADC, processed with an FPGA, and fed to
the rest of the system through a digital interface. The FPGA will do things like
filter the digital signal of course. On the transmit path, the digital signal is fed to
the FPGA through the digital interface, converted to an analog signal with a
DAC, and fed to the RF chain where its up converted and amplified.

40
Our last topic is antenna measurements.

41
Far-field range measurements are carried out at a relatively long distance from
the antenna under test (AUT). The far-field region is usually considered the
region beyond the Fraunhofer distance (2D2/, where D is the aperture
diameter of the antenna and is the test wavelength associated with the test
frequency). In the far-field region, electromagnetic waves received by an
antenna are assumed to be near planar waves.

The advantage of far-field range measurements is that most antenna

parameters are defined for the far-field so all we have to do is make the
measurements, no additional calculations are needed. Most antenna
parameters area defined for the far-field because most antennas are used for
relatively long range communication information about how they behave at
long ranges is what is useful.

Although far-field range measurements seem pretty straight forward, there are
several issues or disadvantages associated with them. The first issue comes
from the fact that the Fraunhofer distance is only an approximation.
Electromagnetic waves in the far-field region are assumed to be NEAR planar
waves, not perfectly planar waves. The diagram at the bottom of this slide
shows that theres a 22.5 phase taper at the phase front. The phase taper
introduces some error in the side-lobes and nulls in the antenna radiation
pattern. Sometimes the error is acceptable, but sometimes it isnt.

42
Measurements at 10D2/ or farther may be needed to get an acceptable level
of error for testing.

Depending on the antenna diameter and test frequency, a far-field range setup
can take up a lot of real estate, which can make them impractical or basically
impossible to set up. Also, if theyre set up out doors, theyre going to be
weather dependent and susceptible to interference. Objects might get in the
way of the test path or other radio waves sources may interact with
measurement system or the AUT.

42
This slide represents a typical Far-field configuration using the newest
Keysights receiver. As this slide shows the existing 8530A system
components are still in use. The LO source is provided by integrated RF
source of the new receiver as optional option for more frequency agility. The
8530A can be replaced by the N5264A receiver and maintain the same
measurement sensitivity.

Here is how system works:

The far-field new receiver configuration utilizes the same 85320A/B external
mixers, and the 85309A LO/IF distribution unit to provide the down conversion.
The I.F frequency of 7.60534 MHz after down conversion feeds into two of the
five receiver inputs to achieve the excellent measurement sensitivity. This
configuration utilizes a PSG or MXG microwave source with utilizing TTL
handshake triggers between the receiver and the source.

With this new receiver and MXG configuration, the measurement speed
typically a 2-3 times faster when upgrading an HP 8530A/8360 based receiver
system. As the number of test frequencies in a far-field measurement scenario
increases and more complex measurements, upgrading the measurement
system would have the most effect on reducing total measurement times, and

43
provide the best productivity gains.

43
A compact antenna test range (CATR) is designed to make far-field range
measurements in a compact distance. In the diagram, it uses a reflector to
collimate the radiated spherical wavefronts from the source antenna into
planar wavefronts.

If the setup is good enough we can avoid the 22.5 phase taper seen at the
Fraunhofer distance. A few other advantages are taking up less real estate and
reduced issues with weather and interference.

The disadvantages are that CATRs are expensive, more management of

different types of reflection errors, and the positioners are slow.

44
Near-field measurements are carried out close to the AUT by scanning small
probe antenna. The results of the measurements area transferred to the far-
field range with various mathematical techniques.

There are three main types of near-field range measurements: planar,

cylindrical, and spherical. The planar measurements probe a plane in front of
the antenna, cylindrical measurements probe a cylinder around the antenna,
and spherical measurements probe a sphere around the antenna.

Planar measurements are transformed to the far-field range using the Fourier
Transform or other transforms. Cylindrical measurements are transformed
using cylindrical harmonics. And, spherical measurements are transformed
using spherical harmonics.

Two of the biggest advantages are no phase taper and complete pattern
characterization in one data acquisition. Some other advantages are reduced
real estate and assuming in door testing, no weather dependency and no
susceptibility to interference.

The main disadvantage is that they require precise positioning of the probe
antenna and can therefore be difficult to carry out.

45
Shown here is a typical configuration for a near-field measurement using the
PNA-X network analyzer.

Note that there are four (simultaneous) receiver channels on the PNA family,
so it can be configured to measure up to three antenna test channels
simultaneously (three test channels plus one reference channel). The 8530A
receiver had one test and one reference channel, thus requiring sequential
measurements to measure the three ports of a monopulse antenna.

46
This table shows measurement techniques versus antenna types. Depending
on the type of antenna being measured or what parameters being measured
some measurement techniques are better than others. For example, if
measuring a high frequency antenna, the near-field techniques and compact
range are much better choices than outdoor range and anechoic chamber. Or,
if measuring low sidelobes, the near-field techniques are better choices than
any of the far-field techniques.

47
This compares the Keysight N5264A Measurement Receiver and the PNA-X.
The measurement receiver is great for far-field and compact range, but not for
near-field. The PNA-X is great for near-field and compact range, but not for
far-field. Additionally, the PNA-X has Pulsed-RF for carrying out pulsed
measurements and both the measurement receiver and the PNA-X have an
option for Fast-CW mode.

48
One of the benefits and challenges of phased array AESA antennas is that
they can form a lot of different antenna patterns. Shown here is a typical
AESA antenna, with 24 test ports, 2 polarizations pre test port, tested at 21
frequencies, and the need to test 8281 antenna beam positions per test port,
polarization, and frequency. This is over 8 million antenna patterns that need
to be measured to characterize the antenna to ensure that there are no gaps
or holes in the antennas coverage area. With expensive, high-performance
antennas, the end user wants this type of full characterization.

Some of our leading customers who are developing phased array AESA
antennas have been asking Keysight for assistance in developing test
methods for cost effectively testing their AESA arrays.

Number of patterns:
45 in azimuth, with a pattern formed every 1 = 181 beam position patterns.
45 in elevation, with a pattern formed every 1 = 181 beam position patterns.
91 x 91 = 8281 beam positions in 3D space
8281 beam positions x 24 test ports x 2 polarizations x 21 frequencies = 8.35
million antenna patterns desired to be measured.

49
Transmit-receive modules that are used in radar applications, and as their
name implies, have two different modes. In the transmit mode they transmit a
high power pulsed signal, and the types of measurements that our customers
make in the transmit mode are shown.

After the pulse of energy has been sent out by the T-R modules, they switch to
a receive mode, and the low energy return signal is detected and measured by
the receiver portion of the module. The different types of measurements that
are made in the receive mode are also shown.

Characterizing T-R modules require a lot of different measurements. Since an

active array antenna may be comprised of thousands of T-R modules, the
ability to make all the transmit and receive measurements very quickly and
with a single connection to the module is imperative for developing a cost
effective phased array antenna.

50
Next well summarize and take questions.

51
 To help deepen your team's knowledge, this paper focused on measurement fundamentals
related to antenna theory and the evolution of antenna technology. We covered the
characteristics of many types of antennas: parabolic reflector, linear arrays, passive
electronically scanned array, and active electronically scanned arrays (AESA). Continuing into
the block diagram, we saw the basics of transmit/receive (T/R) modules, antenna
measurements and measurement solutions.

Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2016 51

A lot of this material is available in more depth in our related application notes. If youd like
some more information, please take a look at these websites and application notes.

53
A lot of this material is available in more depth in our related application notes. If youd like
some more information, please take a look at these websites and application notes.

54
Thank you!

55