Abstract
We describe a method to use numerical simulations concurrently with measurements (Near Field data) to characterize the radiation properties of an antenna (Far Field) with a strongly reduced number of samples. Both simulations and experimental data are dealt with as sources of information towards obtaining the desired characterization. Simulations compensate for data scarceness, allowing to obtain an accurate characterization with fewer data than with measurements only, and the few measured data allow the comprehensive numerical proxy to get tuned to the true antenna under test. The method uses partial knowledge of the antenna and leverages accelerated asymptotic numerical methods to perform the numerical simulations needed by the algorithm. We report experimental tests of performance, both in term of accuracy and speed-up with respect to classical methods, with reflector antennas up to 27 wavelength. It is important to note that good results are obtained both when samples are taken on irregular optimized grids and on the regular grids usually resulting from conventional measurement rigs.

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