Upper-bound errors in far-field antenna parameters determined from planar near-field measurements :: PART 1 analysis

General expressions are derived for estimating the errors in the sum or difference far-field pattern of electrically large aperture antennas which measured by planar near-field scanning technique. Upper bounds are determined for the far-field errors produced by 1) the nonzero fields outside the finite scan area, 2) the inaccuracies in the positioning of the probe, 3) the distortion and non-linearities of the instrumentation which measures the amplitude and phase of the probe output, and 4) the multiple refractions. Computational errors, uncertainties in the receiving characteristics of the probe, and errors involved with measuring the input power to the test antenna are briefly discussed.