Robustness Analysis of the Planar Wide-Mesh Scanning Technique against Measurement Errors

Non-redundant near-field scanning methodologies are based on optimal sampling interpolation expansions to reconstruct the field at any point in space. The Planar Wide-Mesh Scanning (PWMS) methodology allows faster measurements than standard Nyquist-compliant acquisitions. The methodology has no accuracy loss and has been validated at different bands and with different antennas in error-free scenarios.In this paper, the robustness of the PWMS methodology is tested against four error sources: probe XY position errors, multiple reflections, cable errors, and room scattering. The errors are included in the 18-terms lists considered by the measurement community as an exhaustive list of the NF errors. These errors are typically unknown and dependent on the mechanical uncertainties and particular setup. The validation has been done considering real measurements with different setups in combination with errors added in post-processing. The good agreement of the results in comparison with standard scanning demonstrates the robustness of this methodology.