Characterization of the Antenna Calibration Test Site (CALTS) of the National Center for Metrology (CENAM) of Mexico

Abstract

This project exposes an exhaustive procedure to validate the open-area Antenna Calibration Test Site (CALTS) at the National Center for Metrology (CENAM) of Mexico. It is based on the requirements of the international standard CISPR 16-1-5 edition 2012. The procedure presented here gives a wider characterization of the CALTS performance by measuring at 9 different locations with 3 m separation from each other in the ground plane. The validation was performed with four standard dipole antennas horizontally polarized resonant at 60 MHz, 180 MHz, 400 MHz, and 700 MHz to cover the frequency range from 30 MHz to 1 GHz. A 10 m distance between the transmitting and receiving antennas was employed. The measured results showed that the criteria of the site attenuation and the receiving antenna height for maximum site attenuation were met at the frequencies and heights specified by the standard at the 9 locations. Two optimum locations were found for future antenna calibration services and the performance of the CALTS was found to be uniform across the ground plane.