Propagation and antenna measurements using antenna switching and random field measurements

For antenna diversity measurements, it is necessary to calibrate receivers for every sequence of measurement. A calibration-free measurement system using a single receiver and antenna switching is proposed. Experiments showing the antenna sampling interval needed for characterizing diversity antennas are presented. Antenna switching can also be used to compare the relative gain of a test and a reference antenna in identical environments by the random field measurements (RFM) method. We measured the gain reduction caused by the human carrier of portable phone antennas and by the inclination angle of the handheld terminal antenna. The gain was -8.4 dB with 2.8 dB standard deviation for the vertical orientation.<
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