What sort of antennas are you measuring?  Depending on the gain/ directivity , there is not a lot of point in being able to align to better than some fraction of the beamwidth. so for antennas that are likely to go mobile or body worn, a large protractor may be good enough.  Equally for DF arrays with sub-degree precision, we built the antenna with a retroreflector built in, and use lasers and a theodolite to line up.

Mike.

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your valuable insights! In our case, we are working with parabolic reflector antennas and employing open-ended waveguide probes for scanning purposes. Our reflector antennas are designed to produce a pencil-like beam.

We don't have access to a theodolite, but we do have a Faro laser tracker at our disposal. Considering the precision required for our measurements and the nature of our antenna systems, we're exploring the use of the Faro laser tracker for achieving the necessary alignment.

Would you happen to know of any papers, guides, or online resources that specifically discuss or demonstrate the use of a Faro laser tracker for alignment with parabolic reflectors? Any insights or references in this regard would be immensely helpful!

Thank you once again for your guidance.

Sorry, I am not familiar with the Faro system. Consider how wide is your narrowest pencil beam - I'd suggest a precision of 10% of that will always be  better than you will ever need.

Can you build the parabolas with a mechanical reference feature as part of the design ?

Are you near field scanning with the w/guide?

M.

Have you checked out the following:

Feature-Based Alignment with the Tracer SI Laser Projector: This article shows how to use the Faro Tracer SI Laser Projector to align directly to the holes, corners, and other datums on your workpiece. The Tracer SI Laser Projector is the first to fully support feature-based alignment, which eliminates the need for targets or retroreflectors. The article provides a step-by-step guide on how to perform feature-based alignment with the Tracer SI Laser Projector and the BuildIT Projector software.

Hi, Thanks for your response. We don't design the antennas, we test them in our facility. Yeah, we use waveguides for scanning in near field.

Hi AMK,

Thank you for the information you provided. I've taken a look at the article you mentioned, and it seems quite insightful. However, just to clarify, we're using the FARO® Vantage Laser Tracker, which operates differently from the Tracer SI Laser Projector discussed in the article.

Hi AMK,

Thank you for the information you provided. I've taken a look at the article you mentioned, and it seems quite insightful. However, just to clarify, we're using the FARO® Vantage Laser Tracker, which operates differently from the Tracer SI Laser Projector discussed in the article.