Characterization of Compact Antenna Test Ranges from amplitude-only data

A new algorithm for the amplitude-only characterization of Compact Antenna Test Ranges (CATRs) is presented. The algorithm applies a successful strategy to retrieve the missing phase of the field in the quiet zone. Particular care is devoted to facing the issue of the typically large electrical dimensions of CATRs and to obtaining the necessary accuracy by the use of an “efficient” representation of the radiated field. This is accomplished through a Jacobi-Bessel expansion of the aperture field which allows to keep low the overall number of unknowns and to improve the accuracy and the reliability of the algorithm. The presented numerical analysis, based on realistic CATR simulations by means of GRASP8-SE, shows the feasibility of the algorithm to estimate amplitude and phase of the quiet zone field within an acceptable accuracy.