Probe calibration for drone-borne wideband antenna measurements

Sensor network communications in the HF range came back recently as an alternative to third-party solutions. As an example, over-the-horizon control links in grid energy production facilities can use low-power, low-rate HF transmissions using convolutional coding. Since HF antennas should be characterized in situ, near-field drone-borne measuring systems are convenient. In this paper, we propose to use electrically short, folded dipoles as drone-borne field probes. We present a near-field probe calibration procedure including corrections both for the field-zone and drone body effects.