A novel near-field robotic scanner for surface, RF and thermal characterization of millimeter-wave active phased array antenna

摘要

This work describes the concept and current development of a novel automated system to characterize active phased array antennas. The proposed system, called an RF Scanner, has been conceptualized and developed by the Advanced Radar Research Center (ARRC) at the University of Oklahoma (OU). This system enables the full characterization of electromagnetic, surface, and thermal properties of an active phased array antenna. An industrial 6-axis articulated robot is used to move a sensor suite to perform near-field measurements as well as surface and thermal inspection of the antenna under test (AUT). The sensor suite consists of a mechanical fixture supporting an infrared camera, a high-precision laser, a high-definition camera, and an antenna array probe. The AUT, the robotic manipulator, and the sensor suite are located inside of an environmental chamber. This environmental chamber enables characterization of the AUT under controlled temperature and humidity. The combination of the high precision robot, sensor suite, environmental chamber, and vector network analyzer (VNA), along with a software interface, allows fully automated characterization of an active phased array antenna from 1 GHz to 18 GHz, up to 60 GHz if the VNA is upgraded, over a temperature range of 0° C to 50 ° C.