Fast measuring axial ratio of circular polarization antennas based on linear polarization antenna

Axial ratio(AR) test requires continuous rotation of polarization axis of linear polarization(LP) antenna, however high-speed rotation of rotary joint brings cable jitter, which causes inconsistencies between amplitude and phase. Since it is difficult to eliminate the jitter at high frequency, a fast and accurate measurement method of the AR of CP antennas was presented. The method, which is based on the orthogonal decomposition theory of elliptically polarized wave, employs LP antenna to measure two groups of orthogonal LP amplitude of the CP antennas under test. Therefor axial ratio of circularly polarized antennas and other parameters of elliptic polarization can be obtained by calculating. And on this basis, an innovative method of measuring the AR of CP antennas using only three linear polarization components was proposed. By measuring CP antennas in an anechoic chamber repeatedly, the method was proved to be effective. This method can increase the efficiency of measuring CP antennas, ease the difficulty level of test, and is of great importance to engineering application.