Revising the Theory and Practice of Electrical Alignment Procedures for Spherical Antenna Measurement Facilities

Mechanical and electrical alignment procedures are routinely implemented in spherical antenna test facilities that focus on achieving the highest possible degree of accuracy. Even though mechanical alignment, that is alignment with optical means, is the lengthiest of the two procedures, electrical alignment, which is alignment with radiation means, is just as important because it is the last step before actual measurements take place. This paper revises the theory of electrical alignments for roll-over-azimuth positioners and attempts to analyze it more systematically in comparison to other works that have appeared in the literature. In addition, it presents a novel way to correct pointing and axis intersection errors with just one flip test.