Helicoidal Measurements and New Products Highlight AMTA 2008

December 9, 2008

Helicoidal Measurements and New Products Highlight AMTA 2008

MI Technologies introduced several new products and hosted demonstrations of an innovative helicoidal antenna measurement technique during AMTA 2008, November 16-21 in Boston.

Helicoidal Measurements
An operational demonstration of a new and novel near-field scanning technique captured the interest of attendees at AMTA 2008. The new scanning method, referred to as helicoidal, is accomplished by scanning a surface similar to a helix about an antenna. The technique is based on research into non redundant sampling methods performed by a team of professors at the University of Salerno in Italy.

The MI Technologies' helicoidal measurement system consists of a linear vertical axis, an azimuth axis, position controller and a data acquisition system. By properly coordinating the simultaneous motion of these two axes, a helicoidal surface about the antenna under test can be accomplished. The primary advantage of the novel scanning technique is speed. By coordinating the motion of two simultaneous axes such that both axes are in motion simultaneously and by reducing the total number of data points to be acquired, the time to make a near-field measurement can be significantly reduced.

Dr. Francesco D'Agostino of the University of Salerno presented a paper on the helicoidal technique and conducted demonstrations of the system in the MI Technologies booth. Click here to download the paper, "Experimental Validation of the NF-FF Transformation with helicoidal Scanning Suitable for Elongated Antennas."

New Products Introduced
The MI-710 position controller and the MI-788 Networked Acquisition Controller were among the MI Technologies new products introduced at AMTA this year.

The MI-710 offers solutions for nearly every motion control application. The MI-710 is based on a modular chassis to accommodate multiple functions in one box, thus creating a smarter and more configurable system. Click here to download the MI-710 catalog pages.

The MI-788 Networked Acquisition Controller (NAC) streamlines the cycle of triggering and data flow among networked instruments for higher throughput and faster data collection. The MI-788 NAC is specifically designed to work with vector network analyzers and the MI Technologies family of microwave receivers. Click here to download the MI-788 NAC data sheet.

Solutions Center Success
MI Technologies offered its test and measurement Solutions Center at AMTA 2008. Throughout the week, AMTA attendees were welcome to meet informally with MI Technologies engineers to work through antenna, radome or radar cross section test and measurement problems.

Jeff Fordham, MI Technologies Vice President of Marketing, said, "Our Solutions Center offers an excellent opportunity each year to focus on real-world test and measurement problems during AMTA. We field questions ranging from creating a new range, to test range automation, difficult measurement tasks and errors and accuracy issues."

MI Technologies and its predecessor companies have vigorously supported AMTA since its inception 30 years ago. More than a third of the Company's employees are active AMTA members. Each year the Company provides technical papers, creates product demonstrations, staffs the MI-Technologies Solutions Center and sponsors social events to help ensure a successful symposium.