Rapid Spherical Near-Field Antenna Measurements for Vehicle Applications

As more wireless services such as satellite radio (SDARS), navigation systems, OnStar, and mobile telephones are installed on GM vehicles, there is a need to make quick and accurate vehicle antenna pattern measurements. The interaction between vehicle and antenna must be included to ensure accurate vehicle antenna measurements. This implies that the size of the effective antenna should include both the antenna and vehicle interaction dimensions. For the frequency range of 500 MHz to 6 GHz, one solution is to use a spherical near-field system. The Satimo rapid probe array technology was selected to develop a vehicle antenna test system (ATS), which minimizes test time and maintains data accuracy. The ATS was designed to operate inside of an existing GM electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) anechoic chamber equipped with a nine-meter turntable. It includes a fully autonomous transport and deployment system allowing the ATS hardware to be removed and the chamber returned to its EMC configuration. This paper presents the ATS design, summary of the verification test results, and a modal analysis showing vehicle to antenna interaction.