A Non-contact Machine Vision System for the Precision Alignment of mm-Wave Antennas in all Six Degrees of Freedom

Published

October 12, 2014

Author(s)

Joshua A. Gordon, David R. Novotny

Abstract

Although highly accurate relative position data can be achieved using laser tracking systems which are suitable for millimeter wave antenna characterization, a considerable gap exists in the ability to absolutely align antennas to laser tracker target coordinate systems. In particular this scenario arises in millimeter wave near-field measurements where probe antenna aperture dimensions are on the order of a millimeter, and the position of its origin must be known to better than 1/20th of a wavelength, and orientation known to fractions of a degree. The fragile nature and dimensions of such antenna negate the use of coordinated metrology measurement systems and larger touch probes typically used for accurate spatial characterization. The Antenna Metrology Laboratory at NIST in Boulder, Colorado is developing a new machine vision based technique for measuring the absolute position of small (

Conference Dates

October 12-17, 2014

Conference Location

Tucson, AZ

Conference Title

36th Annual Symposium of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA)

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Machine Vision, Antenna Metrology, Laser tracker, millimeter wave

Citation

Gordon, J. and Novotny, D. (2014), A Non-contact Machine Vision System for the Precision Alignment of mm-Wave Antennas in all Six Degrees of Freedom, 36th Annual Symposium of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA), Tucson, AZ, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=916391 (Accessed April 25, 2024)