Reduced-Order Model for Antenna Pattern Characterization from a Small Number of Samples

The characterization of the radiation performances is a necessary step in the conception of any wireless system. These systems require always more demanding radiation performances that calls for time consuming characterizations. This duration can be reduced by the decrease of the number of field samples. By enclosing the antenna in a Huygens' surface, we can build a radiation matrix that maps equivalent surface currents to the radiated field. A singular value decomposition of this matrix enables to build a compressed representation of the antenna measurement and more specifically a reduced basis of the radiated fields. By harnessing the outer dimensions of the antenna, the number of field samples can be reduced as compared to spherical wave expansion techniques. This number is shown to be connected to the area of the convex equivalent surface enclosing the AUT, as hinted by previous analytical works for canonical enclosing surfaces. The whole antenna characterization procedure is validated by simulations and experiments.