mktg@astramwp.com, hr@astramwp.com

+91 40 46618000/ 8001

Astra Microwave Products Ltd.

NFTR Facility

NEAR FIELD TEST RANGE

Antenna measurement facility

The NFTR system is a planar near field antenna test system. It is capable of testing the Near field (NF) and Far field (FF) characteristics of the Active & Passive Antenna/Array under test. The features of the constituents of the NFTR are:

Shielded Anechoic Chamber

The Shielded Chamber is lined with the Radiation Absorbing material and houses scanner, optical subsystem, Probe and AUT. The platform is specially designed for high isolation to vibration. The chamber with large volume of 17mx15mx11m can accommodate large size radar systems. The temperature and humidity inside, is controlled by a dedicated air-conditioning system.

Scanner

Scanner is a high precision robotic system carrying sensors used to measure the Electrical and mechanical performance of microwave antennas. It comprises three orthogonal linear motion axes (X-Y-Z). X,Y for moving the probe across the scan plane and Z for adjusting the separation between the scan plane and the AUT. In addition, one rotary axis (Roll) is provided for rotating the probe about its axis in order to enable probing different polarization components of the planar NF. The scan range is 12m x 7m x 1m.

RF &  Computational Subsystem

The RF measurement subsystem is based on a Vector Network Analyser operating up to 18GHz. It consists of a RF signal source section as the stimulus source and an amplitude/phase measurement receiver section for the response measurement. The measurement can be made in Transmit, Receive and Inject mode using the RF switch.

The computational subsystem controls the scanner, RF subsystem, Laser subsystem and acquires the data from the probe and analyses the near field and far field characteristics. The system operates on the state of the art MIDAS software and utilizes Fast Fourier Transform techniques for data conversion from NF to FF.

Typical System Specifications
Chamber Size
17m x 15m x 11m
Scan Area
12m (L) x 7m(H) x 1m(D)
Frequency range
1.0-18.0 GHz
Measurement accuracy
Side lobe level
3dB at -40 dB peak
Beam pointing
100 micro radians
Gain
0.2 dB RMS
(on relative measurement) Polarization measurement:
Content
Two orthogonal linear polarizations Far field angular coverage
±80° Az : ±60° El

Measurement Capabilities

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