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Open-Source Low-Cost Antenna Measurement Setup for Rapid Echoic Measurements

Open-Source Low-Cost Antenna Measurement Setup for Rapid Echoic Measurements
Open-Source Low-Cost Antenna Measurement Setup for Rapid Echoic Measurements
With the massive growth in wireless systems and the internet of things vision, low-cost and rapid antenna measurements in echoic lab environments have attracted significant research, commercial, and educational interest in the last decade. In this paper, we present a low-cost antenna positioning system based on open-source positioning hardware, for in-situ 3-dimensional radiation pattern measurements. The positioner is an off-the-shelf Arduino robotic arm and can perform azimuth and elevation measurements over a hemisphere using different rotation mechanisms. The positioning system is used in conjunction with a commercial Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and wire lambda/2 antennas for the second VNA port. The measured radiation patterns of a flexible microstrip patch antenna using the proposed setup are compared to 3D full-wave simulations as well as anechoic chamber measurements. The measurement setup, excluding the VNA, costs less than $300, and does not require calibrated reference antennas, rotary connectors, or specific PC peripherals. The open-source design library is publicly available at git.soton.ac.uk/mahm1m19/antennameasurement_system/.
antenna measurements, open source, instrumentation, RF measurements, radiation patterns, radiation pattern measurements, gain patterns, antenna properties, antenna radiation properties, low cost antenna measurements, open source antenna positioner, low cost antenna measurement
IEEE
Wagih, Mahmoud
7e7b16ba-0c64-4f95-bd3c-99064055f693
Moody, Thomas
89032a4d-ce4f-4eb3-b922-afa5c6978810
Wagih, Mahmoud
7e7b16ba-0c64-4f95-bd3c-99064055f693
Moody, Thomas
89032a4d-ce4f-4eb3-b922-afa5c6978810

Wagih, Mahmoud and Moody, Thomas (2021) Open-Source Low-Cost Antenna Measurement Setup for Rapid Echoic Measurements. In 2020 IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements & Applications (CAMA). IEEE. 5 pp . (In Press) (doi:10.36227/techrxiv.16610818.v1).

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

With the massive growth in wireless systems and the internet of things vision, low-cost and rapid antenna measurements in echoic lab environments have attracted significant research, commercial, and educational interest in the last decade. In this paper, we present a low-cost antenna positioning system based on open-source positioning hardware, for in-situ 3-dimensional radiation pattern measurements. The positioner is an off-the-shelf Arduino robotic arm and can perform azimuth and elevation measurements over a hemisphere using different rotation mechanisms. The positioning system is used in conjunction with a commercial Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and wire lambda/2 antennas for the second VNA port. The measured radiation patterns of a flexible microstrip patch antenna using the proposed setup are compared to 3D full-wave simulations as well as anechoic chamber measurements. The measurement setup, excluding the VNA, costs less than $300, and does not require calibrated reference antennas, rotary connectors, or specific PC peripherals. The open-source design library is publicly available at git.soton.ac.uk/mahm1m19/antennameasurement_system/.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: August 2021
Venue - Dates: 2020 IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements & Applications (CAMA), ANTIBES JUAN-LES-PINS,, France, 2021-11-15 - 2021-11-17
Keywords: antenna measurements, open source, instrumentation, RF measurements, radiation patterns, radiation pattern measurements, gain patterns, antenna properties, antenna radiation properties, low cost antenna measurements, open source antenna positioner, low cost antenna measurement

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 451501
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/451501
PURE UUID: 27902ae6-9e89-4d80-a322-c221f30f0377
ORCID for Mahmoud Wagih: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7806-4333

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 04 Oct 2021 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:06

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Contributors

Author: Mahmoud Wagih ORCID iD
Author: Thomas Moody

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