Near-Field Radio Holography of Large Reflector Antennas

We summarize the mathematical foundation of the holographic method of measuring the reflector profile of an antenna or radio telescope. In particular, we treat the case where the signal source is located at a finite distance from the antenna under test, necessitating the inclusion of the so-called Fresnel field terms in the radiation integrals. We assume a "full phase" system with reference receiver to provide the reference phase. We describe in some detail the hardware and software implementation of the system used for the holographic measurement of the 12 m ALMA prototype sub-millimeter antennas. We include a description of the practicalities of a measurement and surface setting. The results for both the VertexRSI and AEC (Alcatel-EIE-Consortium) prototype ALMA antennas are presented.

[1]  G. G. Stokes.  "J." , 1890, The New Yale Book of Quotations.

[2]  S. Silver.  Microwave antenna theory and design , 1949 .

[3]  J. Ruze.  Antenna tolerance theory—A review , 1966 .

[4]  Roger Clifton Jennison.  Introduction to Radio Astronomy , 1966 .

[5]  J. C. Bennett,et al.  Microwave holographic metrology of large reflector antennas , 1976 .

[6]  Martin Ryle,et al.  A rapid method for measuring the figure of a radio telescope reflector , 1977 .

[7]  Wolfhard J. Vogel,et al.  A Holographic Surface Measurement of the Texas 4.9-m Antenna at 86 GHz , 1983, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[8]  Yahya Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Microwave holography of large reflector antennas--Simulation algorithms , 1985 .

[9]  E. P. Schoessow,et al.  Improvement of the Effelsberg 100 meter telescope based on holographic reflector surface measurement , 1986 .

[10]  D. Morris,et al.  Radio-holographic reflector measurement of the 30-m millimeter radio telescope at 22 GHz with a cosmic signal source , 1988 .

[11]  D. Morris,et al.  Phase retrieval radio holography in the Fresnel region: tests on the 30 m telescope at 86 GHz , 1988 .

[12]  B. Seidel,et al.  Microwave antenna holography , 1992 .

[13]  Robert N. Martin,et al.  The Heinrich Hertz Telescope and the Submillimeter Telescope Observatory , 1999 .

[14]  Masato Ishiguro,et al.  Development of the reflector panel for the new 10-m millimeter/submillimeter telescope , 2000, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[15]  C. Walther,et al.  HIGH-RESOLUTION MILLIMETRE-WAVE HOLOGRAPHY ON THE JAMES CLERKMAXWELL TELESCOPE , 2002 .

[16]  Jacob W. M. Baars,et al.  Evaluation of the ALMA Prototype Antennas , 2006 .

[17]  P. D. Patter,et al.  Analysis of Reflector Antennas , 2013 .

[18]  Aaas News,et al.  Book Reviews , 1893, Buffalo Medical and Surgical Journal.