Design of an array-based plane wave generator for compact field antenna testing

A near-field planar array of wideband dual polarized antennas for plane-wave synthesis has been investigated. The paper presents a PWG with a concentric ring array of 84 Vivaldi antennas which can work at 0.6GHz-3GHz. The constraint least square (CLS) algorithm is used to optimize the weight coefficients of the array elements, which effectively reduce the influence of system uncertainty on quiet zone (QZ) ripple. To reduce the system cost and complexity, the array elements in each concentric ring form a sub-array and the elements of the same sub-array adopt a passive beam forming network. The simulation and initial test results of a circular QZ with a diameter of 600 mm are given. The results demonstrate the feasibility of our design.