A First/Third-Order Probe Correction Technique for Spherical Near-Field Antenna Measurements Using Three Probe Orientations

A probe correction technique is described for spherical near-field antenna measurements based on sampling the near field for three probe orientations in each measurement direction. The technique applies to odd-order probes whose radiated field contains (significant) power only in the first (mu = plusmn1) and third- order (mu = plusmn3) azimuthal spherical modes. The technique is ideally suited as an optional probe correction technique for high-accuracy measurements in existing measurement systems that employ a rectangular or square waveguide probe and the traditional first-order probe correction technique.