Broadband Performance Assessment of Compensated Compact Antenna Test Range CCR 75/60 of Airbus at L-Band for Navigation Applications

For future navigation applications, a facility assessment and qualification is performed to determine the measurement capabilities of a compact antenna test range (CATR) facility in terms of group delay on the example of a low-gain navigational antenna at L-band. This work is motivated by verifying and assuring that the measurement accuracy and well-known limitations of a CATR at low frequencies and for low-gain antennas can cope with the latest and very challenging demands for high precision phase and hence group delay measurements which are needed for novel and future GNSS systems and applications. The measurement facility, the employed antenna for this investigation, and the several obstacles and challenges for group delay measurements in a CATR are described. Through facility optimization techniques, echo suppression, such as hard- and soft-gating, as well as applying advanced antenna pattern comparison (AAPC) technique, very precise group delay results are recorded and presented which demonstrate that the presented CATR facility can cope with the latest and strict demands in terms of accurate group delay measurements at L-band.