Fast Phased Array Antenna Calibration Incorporating with a Far-field Radiation Measurement System

This paper presents an efficient procedure to calibrate phased array antennas by using a far-field antenna radiation measurement system such as compact antenna test range (CATR). The proposed method takes advantage of the fast electronically switching property of digital phase shifters, and incorporates discrete Fourier transform (DFT) technique to find the phase and amplitude errors caused by channel mismatch and distortion. As a result, the mechanical scan of radiation measurement can be avoided by using a single point measurement over the antenna under test (AUT). The calibration algorithm is discussed and some preliminary simulation results are demonstrated to validate the proposed method.