ANTENNA MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES FOR METEOSAT 11 MWS

ANTENNA AT 183 GHz

A. Riisiinen, A. Lehto, J. Tuovinen,

J. Aurinsalo, A. Koivumtiki, R. Pitkiaho

Abstract
Various methods of determining the beam efficiency of large space borne reflector antennas
used for remote sensing of the atmosphere are reviewed and new developments described at
the 110.190 GHz range. Measurements of radiation pattern on a far-field or on a compact
range are studied. Also alternative methods are studied: beam efficiency measurement with
hot and cold loads on a compact range and calculation of the beam efficiency of the reflector
antenna using measured feed phase and amplitude patterns and accurate surface information
of the reflector.
Introduction
A millimeter wave sounder (MWS) is one of the candidate instruments for the Meteosat
Second Generation satellites. The MWS is a multichannel radiometer operating at frequency
bands of 110, 118, 150 and 183 GHz. Altogether there are 10 channels. The radiometer
will have a high precision antenna with a diameter of about two meters. The half power
beamwidth is only about 0.08 degrees. The resulting circular footprint has a diameter of 50
km. The instrument will be used for observation of water vapour and temperature profiles
of the atmosphere.
The testing of this kind of instrument is a challenging task. No ready test methods or facility
exist capable of measuring the radiation characteristics of the MWS. The aim of this study (1)
was to develop test methods, calculate obtainable accuracies and define suitable test facility
to verify the radiation characteristics of the MWS.
In order to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting, the relative error in measuring
apparent temperature of different cells is not allowed to be greater than 0.5 K. The absolute
main lobe temperature error should be less than 1 K. This leads to very strict requirements for
the beam and radiation efficiencies. The beam efficiency and the reflectivity of the reflector is
required to be 2 95 % and > 99 %, and their accuracies must be 1 % and 0.1 %, respectively.
The developed test methods should be able to measure these parameters with the required
accuracy.
Far-field measurement

For a 2 m antenna the far-field distance (2D2/X) is about 3 km at 110 GHz and 5 km at
183 GHz. Attenuation at 110 GHz is around 1 dB/km in moist weather, and this should not
cause problems in antenna measurements. At 183 GHz, however, attenuation is typically 30
dB/km causing an intolerable 150 dB attenuation over a 5 km path. One possibility to find
out the properties of an antenna at 183 GHz is to measure it at the wings of the absorption
resonance and then interpolate.
Attenuation vs. frequency was calculated by using a program (MPM) made by H. Liebe [2]
in typical weather conditions in Helsinki area. The results at channel 10 frequencies (183.31
f 7.00 GHz) of the proposed Meteosat millimeter wave sounder are summarized in Table 1.

A. Rlisinen, A. Lehto and J. Tuovinen are with the Helsinki University of Technology,
Radio Laboratory, and 3. Aurinsalo, A. Koivumgki and R. Pitkiiaho are with the Technical
Research Centre of Finland, Telecommunications Laboratory.

711
The results are reasonable in winter conditions: over a 5 km path the attenuation is 12.8 dB
at 190.3 GHz and a 5 % ' change in relative humidity (RH) during the measurement causes a
0.80 dB change. Table 2 shows an example of the link budget for a 5 km path at 190.3 GHz
in January. The transmitting antenna is assumed to have a diameter of 0.3 m. The received
power is -43 dBm. By using a low noise receiver the whole dynamic range of an antenna
receiver, as for example the Scientific Atlanta 1783, could be used.
Table 1. Attenuations at 176.3 GHz and 190.3 GHz and their sensitivity to humidity changes
in typical weather conditions in Helsinki area (January: T = -6.9" C, RH = fi8.1 %, p = 2.61
g/m3; July: T = l6.d0C, RH = 72.4 %, p = 10.1 g/m3).

January I A(dB / km) 2.19 I 2.56

July A(dB/km) 7.40 8.67

I dA(dB/km)/dRH I 0.113/% I 0.132/% I
Table 2. Link budget for a 5 km path at 190.3 GHz in January in Helsinki.

Transmitting antenna gain

Free space attenuation -152 dB
Atmospheric attenuation -13 dB

ComDact r ane;e measurement

When the beam efficiency is determined by first measuring the antenna radiation pattern,
and then by calculating the beam efficiency from that, errors in pattern measurement have
an immediate effect on the calculated beam efficiency. Extensive numerical calculations were
made to study the effects of different pattern measurement inaccuracies on beam efficiency
accuracy. An offset paraboloid antenna of 2 m diameter and 34 p m (rms) surface error was
used in these calculations. In the following, the results from the calculations are presented
briefly.
The beam efficiency is defined as the ratio of the power contained in the main beam of the
antenna pattern to the total power radiated by the antenna. When an offset antenna with
very low far-out sidelobes is used, it is not necessary to measure the whole pattern in order to
be able to integrate the total power accurately enough. In the case, of the Meteosat antenna
measuring the pattern only to 1" from boresight causes an error of only 0.07 % in beam
efficiency at 183 GHz. Radiation patterns vary substantially between different &planes due
to surface error. Therefore a sufficient number of &cuts must be measured. If the pattern is
measured as +plane cuts, cuts taken every 10' will cause an error of less than 0.01 %. The
6-step in pattern measurement must be in this case 0.01". The cross-polar pattern of the
antenna also has an effect on the beam efficiency value. However, if the cross-polar lobe is
below -30 dB, then the error caused by neglecting the effect of cross-polarisation is less than
0.04 %. The dynamic range of the pattern measurement should be more than 60 dB in order
that the error caused by it is less than 0.05 %.
It was assumed that the pattern measurement is carried out on a compact antenna test range
(CATR). The quiet zone field of a CATR is not an ideal plane wave, but will have a small
ripple in both amplitude and phase. The effect of this ripple on the measured beam efficiency
was analysed. An amplitude ripple of f0.5 dB together with a phase ripple of f3" causes
a worst case error of about 0.5 %. This is clearly the largest source of error in a practical
measurement situation.
The calculated beam efficiency of the antenna now studied is 95.5 % at 183 GHz. This
analysis shows that the total error of the beam efficiency measurement is less than 1 %. This
means that the millimeter wave sounder using this antenna would be able to measure the
apparent temperature with a relative accuracy of 0.5 K.
Beam efficiencv measurement with hot and cold load in CATR
An alternative method to measure the beam efficiency is to place hot and cold loads at the
focal plane of a CATR as shown in Figure 1. The measurement is carried out in two steps:
1" Large hot and cold loads are placed at the focal plane. The loads should fill practically
all the beam of the AUT. The noise temperature TR is calculated.
2" A small cold load that corresponds to a solid angle with a radius of a and fills the main
beam is placed at the focal plane. Behind the cold load there is a large hot load.

Figure 1. (a) Measurement set-up and (6) loads seen b y the AUT in the beam eficiency
measurement.

The beam efficiency can be calculated from the hot and cold load temperatures (TH, Tc),
in CATR included) noise temperature (TR) and output powers measured with
cold loads (Pcs, PcL):

In the case of Meteosat MWS reflector p = 1" is large enough and a N 0.1". In the CATR
of MBB a transversal movement of 300 mm corresponds a change of 1" in the plane wave
direction. This means that the large and small load diameters are 600 mm and 60 mm,
respectively. Error analysis of Equation (1)reveals that the required accuracy of f 1% can
be reached with a low noise receiver (TRNN 100 - 200 K).
Computational verification of beam efficiency
The beam efficiency of a reflector antenna can be calculated if both the amplitude and
phase pattern of the feed horn or feed system as well as the surface of the reflector
are all accurately known. Therefore both amplitude and phase pattern measurements
of the feed horn are needed. Measurement of the amplitude patterns is fairly straight
forward and includes no major problems, since 55 dB dynamic range is sufficient. Phase
pattern measurements are more problematic, as application of conventional antenna phase
measurement methods become increasingly difficult above 100 GHz. Main problems are the
complexity of measurement set-ups and errors caused by the flexible cables or rotary joints
needed in the system. To overcome these problems a novel differential phase measurement
method has been developed and used to measure phase center positions and phase patterns
of two corrugated horns at 105-115 GHz and 176-190 GHz.

713
The set-up of the differential phase method is shown in Figure 2. The AUT is transmitting
while it is rotated. The receiver is fixed. It consists of two channels with a common LO. The
feed horns of the receiver are in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation. The phase
difference $d of the downconverted (IF) signals is measured versus the angle of rotation B .
The position of the phase center and the phase pattern are calculated from $,j VS. 6 curve.
This method is much simpler than the commonly used methods. No phase-locked oscillators,
rotary joints or flexible cables are needed. Though, phase-locked oscillators improve the
dynamic range of the measurements which improves the accuracy in some cases. In spite of
its simplicity the results given by this method are accurate. The measurements agree very
well with the results given by modal matching technique [3]. This technique predicts very
accurately both the amplitude and phase pattern.
Conclusion
Conclusion is that practically all the equipment, methods and the required facility are
available for the testing of the millimeter wave sounder of the Meteosat Second Generation
satellites. The baseline test method for the MWS is to measure radiation patterns on a
compact range. Alternative method are: 1) use of hot and cold loads in a compact range
and 2) accurate measurement of the feed system followed by reflector radiation pattern
computation. The far-field measurement is only a marginal alternative.

LO
diplexer

Axis of rotation

Phase
difference
measurement

LO
diplexer

Figure 2. Differential phase method measurement set-up.

Acknowledgements
This research was partly supported by the European Space Agency under contract NO.
7966/88/NL/PB(SC). The comments by J. Hammer with ESTEC are greatly appreciated.
References
1. Technical Research Centre of Finland and Helsinki University of Technology: Test methods
and ranges for testing the millimeter wave sounder of the Meteosat second generation
satellites. Final report, ESTEC contract No. 7966/88/NL/PB(SC), March 1990.
2. Liebe H. J., Layton, D. H.: Millimeter-wave properties of the atmosphere: Laboratory
studies and propagation modeling. NTIA Report 87-224, 1987.
3. James G.L.: Analysis and design of TEI1- to -HEl1 corrugated circular-cylindrical cavity.
IEEE Transaction on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 1981, Vol. MTT-29, NO. 10, pp.
1059-1066.