Correction of non-anechoic antenna measurements using matrix pencil algorithm with adaptively adjusted setup

Far-field antenna performance is normally evaluated in dedicated test sites such as anechoic chambers. Although capable of providing certification-grade accuracy, professional laboratories are prohibitively expensive. Alternatively, measurements can be performed in non-anechoic conditions and then refined using appropriate algorithms. Unfortunately, post-processing performance depends on the routine-specific setup, which is either determined based on engineering insight or rules-of-thumb. In this work, a refinement of far-field experiments performed in uncontrolled environments, with a focus on automatic tuning of the correction setup has been proposed. The method involves optimization of the post-processing algorithm (here, a matrix-pencil method) setup so as to minimize the discrepancy between the refined responses and an iteratively updated surrogate obtained through non-linear tuning of uniformly scaled EM simulations. The method has been validated based on measurements of two planar antennas at two test sites at 15 unique frequencies. The tests include a performance benchmark against the correction with a manual setup, but also comparisons against the state-of-the-art algorithms, and stochastic optimization approaches. Overall, a total of 400 experiments have been performed. For the considered correction algorithm and antennas, the proposed method offers over 14 dB higher fidelity of the refined responses compared to manual setups.