Genetic Evolution of the Reflector Edge Treatment of a Single Offset-Fed Compact Antenna Test Range for 5G New Radio Applications

While the size of the parabolic reflector in general determines the usable area of the quiet zone of a compact antenna test range (CATR) inside which a pseudo plane-wave condition is produced, the reflector edge treatment also plays a significant role in terms of overall quality and electromagnetic field distribution & uniformity, and especially so at mm-wave frequencies. Using modern powerful digital computational simulation technology in combination with genetic optimization, the edge treatment can be evolved for a specific CATR application as part of the design process. This is crucial as it attempts to maximize the performance of a given solution while ensuring efficient use of the available space which correspondingly provides an economical implementation. This is particularly important in 5G production test applications where, in many instances, multiple systems are required to be collocated within a given host building and in which case, the savings become multiplicative. In this paper the novel design methodology is introduced for the genetic optimization (GO) of blended rolled edge single offset reflector CATRs. Several edge blends and treatments are considered with the genetically optimized design parameter. For each variation the quiet-zone performances are compared and contrasted.