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A Merseyside innovation could cut the cost of antenna
testing. The standard way to plot the response of
an antenna is to put it on a rotary mounting and connect it to a receiver
with an antenna some way off providing a signal. Unfortunately the test
has to be performed in an open field or in an anechoic chamber otherwise
reflections ruin the results. These options are inconvenient or expensive.
With the Merseyside method "you don't need an anechoic
chamber, you can accurately measure the radiation pattern in an ordinary
laboratory", said Dr David Parsons who has [co-]founded a company called Fizzle
Technologies to exploit the invention.
Fizzle's modified test set-up involves initially
replacing the antenna-under-test with an antenna with known
characteristics.
It also requires an equaliser, a device which provides a
different attenuation and phase-shift in the receive path for each angle
the antenna is measured at, in front of the receiver.
The equaliser is then adjusted until the known antenna
plot is correct.
Once the equaliser is set, the unknown antenna can be
measured and results will be as though no reflection paths were present -
providing the antenna-under-test "positioned within one tenth of a
wavelength" of the known antenna, said Parsons.
Results so far are encouraging and the technique could
be extended to improve existing test sites.
Parsons and co-founder Dr Paul Leather, both formerly of
the University of Liverpool, are currently concentrating on phone-type
small UHF antennas.
Fizzle is funded by a £45,000 DTI SMART award.
www.fizzletechnologies.com
For More Information Contact:
info@fizzletechnologies.com
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