Smart Drone Solutions for
Other Antenna Measurements
Adapting the settings of our receivers and some of the operational procedures, other antennas than broadcast can be measured. The drone-based measurement enables to:
- Detect antenna installation errors
- Determine radiation characteristics not visible by simulation (e.g. effect of mast)
- Verify the conformity to the granted license
- Detect potential interferences to other services
The measurement technology can be applied on Tetra / trunk network antennas, some types of military antennas, and – under certain circumpstances – telco antennas.
New and Special Application for 5G Antennas
5G standards require more complex antenna designs such as advanced antenna systems (AAS) using for example beamforming and MIMO techniques. Adapting the antenna radiation patterns to rapidly time-varying traffic and multi-path radio propagation conditions is also a new challenge in 5G.
Even if the individual techniques are well-known and simulated with different tools, how about the real propagation in the air, the effect of multiple antenna arrays, the use of higher frequencies ? Do the antenna envelopes fulfil the license parameters given by the frequency regulators ?Real field measurements are needed now more than ever, and as for every antenna mounted at a certain height on a mast, only measurement probes taken “in the air” allow to qualify an antenna.
After modifying our measurement software and various settings of the receiver, we are now able with our LS OBSERVER AMU to measure antenna patterns of 5G antennas. According to the test settings of the base station, both the “broadcast beams” and the “traffic beams” can be separately evaluated.