The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced the installation of a state-of-the-art Near-Field Scanner (NFS) in the agency’s Compact Payload Test Range at the European Space Research and Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
The new installation will reportedly allow ESA researchers to more thoroughly examine
the electromagnetic fields closely surrounding a test antenna. In addition, the new set-up and test technique will increase testing capabilities for the facility, enabling “the measurement of larger antennas of up to 8 m in diameter over a larger frequency range of 0.4-50GHz,” according to the ESA.
The first assignment for the upgraded Compact Payload Test Range will be to characterize the radiated performance of the next Galileo satellite expected to be launched later this year.
