A Novel Amplitude-Only Measurement Method to Determine Element Fields in Phased Arrays

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 60; no. 7; pp. 3222 - 3230
• Main Authors: Takahashi, T., Konishi, Y., Chiba, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-07-2012; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antenna measurements; Antennas; Applied sciences; Calibration; digital phase shifter; element-field measurement; Equations; Exact sciences and technology; Fourier analysis; Fourier series; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical model; Measurement methods; Phase measurement; Phase shift; Phase shifters; Phased arrays; Radiocommunications; Systems, networks and services of telecommunications; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Transmission and modulation (techniques and equipments); Phase shift; element-field measurement; Calibration; Phased array antenna; Vector method; Beam forming; Digital phase shifter; Electric field; phased arrays; Simulation; Signal processing; Measurement method; Transmission error
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2012.2196961

A novel amplitude-only measurement method is proposed for phased array calibrations. The proposed method can determine a complex element field at every phase shift of a digital phase shifter in phased arrays. The method can be realized using higher order Fourier coefficients of one array-power response measured with the conventional rotating element electric field vector (REV) method. Simulations and experiments were carried out, including transmission errors from the phase shifters, which validated the proposed method. More accurate calibration and beam forming can be achieved by using the precise element fields at all phase shifts determined by the proposed method.