Experimental Proof-of-Concept for Use of Probe Signal Derivatives in Spherical Near-Field Antenna Measurements

Spherical near-field antenna measurements utilize samples of the probe signal on a spherical grid in the near-field of the antenna under test in order to deduce useful properties of the latter, such as its gain or directivity. The required number of probe signal samples is determined by the radius of the minimum sphere enclosing the antenna under test. Recently, effort has been placed into using the spatial derivatives of the acquired samples in order to reduce the measurement time. Here, we present new experimental results demonstrating the feasibility of using both probe signals and probe signal derivatives through comparison with the standard technique of using only probe signals.