US 12,216,146 B1
Portable antenna measurement
James M. Downey, Cleveland, OH (US); Marie T. Piasecki, Cleveland, OH (US); and Bryan L. Schoenholz, Cleveland, OH (US)
Filed by United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA, Washington, DC (US)
Filed on Sep. 27, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/486,017.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/083,340, filed on Sep. 25, 2020.
Int. Cl. G01R 29/08 (2006.01); G01R 29/10 (2006.01); H01Q 1/28 (2006.01)
CPC G01R 29/0878 (2013.01) [G01R 29/10 (2013.01); H01Q 1/28 (2013.01)] 11 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A portable antenna measurement system, comprising:
a mobile base;
a lift portion attached perpendicular to the mobile base and extending vertically;
a collaborative robotic arm connected at a first end to the lift portion;
an antenna probe affixed to a second end of the collaborative robotic arm, wherein the antenna probe is configured to measure antenna performance at particular locations reachable by the robotic arm;
a measurement control system in communication with the mobile base, lift portion, and the robotic arm;
a path plan component in the measurement control system; wherein the path plan identifies points to perform measurements and includes pauses for repositioning the robotic arm using the mobile base when the robotic arm is unable to locate any unmeasured reachable points;
a robotic control component in the measurement control system for generating and communicating commands based on the path plan to the mobile base, lift portion, and the robotic arm regarding position and orientation to drive the antenna probe affixed to the second end of the robotic arm.