An Automatic Device for Investigating Antenna Domes,

In the investigation of the influence of a dome on the characteristics and parameters of the antenna covered by it, it is necessary in a number of cases to determine this influence for different positions of the phase center of the antenna under the dome and of the various orientations of the antenna. Such investigations require making from several hundred to several thousands of measurements, i.e., they are very time-consuming. Therefore, it was expedient to completely, or at least partially, automate such measurements. So far as we know, devices intended for such measurements have not been described in the literature. The automatic device to be described should provide for the automatic motion and orientation of the antenna in question inside the dome, and it should provide for automatic recording of the laws of distribution of the amplitude and phase of the field along the dome surface and a number of other characteristics and parameters of the covered antenna for each position and orientation of the antenna. Author