Measurement of VHF Satellite Antennas using the Synthetic Probe Array Technique

At the lower VHF frequencies, the measurement of low gain antennas in a controlled anechoic environment including the space platform can be challenging. Often, the reflectivity of the anechoic environment is insufficient for a traditional single probe approach using near or far field techniques. This was the case in the testing of the 50-70MHz dipole antenna and cubesat satellite that is part of the ESA HERA-JUVENTAS mission. In this paper we discuss the measurement solution for the testing of this satellite in the ESA-HERTZ testing facility. The solution is based on an array of virtual probes generated by moving a physical single probe within the measurement setup. By a suitable optimization of the complex weight of the virtual array elements a plane wave and thus far field condition can be approximated in the satellite test volume while chamber wall reflections are minimized.