Time Domain Antenna Measurements: Implementation and Verification of a Novel Technique

The results of an experimental study in which time domain pulses are used to measure the far-field characteristics of an antenna are presented. Pulses with duration and rise times in the order of 50 ps are generated in order to characterize the behavior of an antenna in the frequency range 1-18 GHz. An X-band Standard Gain Horn (SGH) has been used to verify the overall performance of the measurement system. An excellent agreement between the time domain and the frequency domain measurements has been observed. This novel antenna measurement technique offers advantages over the traditional techniques for wideband measurements in frequency domain in reducing the measurement time and has great potentials. The paper describes the Antenna Time Domain Measurement (ATDM) system, including the potentials of time gating and summarizes the error sources, advantages and disadvantages of such a measurement technique.