Automated Antenna radiation and Gain Measurement system with user interface for Anechoic chamber

Project Title

Automated Antenna radiation and Gain Measurement system with user interface for Anechoic chamber

Project Area of Specialization Information & Communication TechnologyProject Summary

An Anechoic chamber is an isolated test chamber used to measure the gain and radiation pattern of the DUT(Device Under Test) . The objective of this project is to design a system to rotate the antenna platform and also  capable of detecting, capturing, logging, and displaying measurements inside an Anechoic Chamber. Basically the whole system is based on two critical systems one is the rotating antenna platform for the DUT and also python code for data collection, processing and display

 The Antenna platform must rotate on 0.5 degree or 1 degree increment depend upon the test which required.  A stepper motor is used for the degree increment.  After Each rotation increment, the spectrum analyzer must measure the power being received by the receiver antenna .Python program is for controlling the motor rotation increment, controlling the frequency generator and spectrum analyzer ,and correlating the received power to the angle the DUT has rotate . One the data is captured ,Python program will create a linear radiation measure plot with power in dB .A normalized linear plot ,logarithmic plot, normalized logarithmic plot are also created. A text file with power and frequency values is created and can be exported to MATLAB for further manipulation

Project Objectives

We aim to make a project which is used to  design a system capable of detecting, capturing, logging, and displaying measurements inside an Anechoic Chamber. The main objective is to design and manufacture a cost efficient system, which would serve as a good platform for students to perform and be involved in practicals. Furthermore we aim to  avoid importing expensive system that are commercially manufactured. An other objective of this project is to create a platform on Python and if need be MatLab and not use the tradional LabView that is usually used for such systems, as Python and MatLab are easily accessible to students in universities and also students are more familiar with Python and MatLab.

We want to develop a system that is user friendly, and in future if need be more features (such as linking the system to a cloud service etc) can be included in our system unlike other commercially manufactured options that we have.

Project Implementation Method

Our project is based on two systems one is rotating platform where the antenna rotate 180 or 360 with the precise step of 0.5 deg and 1 deg and for that purpose which use a stepper motor with contorl by python scritp through Microprocessor (raspberry pi). Another part of our project is get the data from the antenna which is mounted on the rotating platform .The data is collected by the Rf detector circuit which converts the RF signal into the voltages and these voltages values are serially transferred to the raspberry pi .And through that voltages values we will calculate the different parameters of antenna through a python script .

Benefits of the Project

The benefits of the project are listed below :

Our project is not only cost effective as mentioned above but is also simple and easy to use, furthermore it is also easy to fabricate.

As mentioned above more features can be included into the system depending on the requirements of the user, we don’t have this option if we opt to buy a rotating platform from existing vendors.

So far we have tested the prototype system and it giving us accurate results, so when completed it will be one of the vital component for antenna testing purposes.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The final product is automated and embedded which comes with Microprocessor (raspberry pi 4b+) which has raspbian OS based on Linux operating system ,a stepper motor and a compact interactive case made up of acrylic material giving it an elegant look also holding the entire system as one. We are using python 3 Script to perform the desired tasks for required results. We are also creating an easy to use GUI using Python 3 to contorl the whole system.

A Prototype Image of Our Project 

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry TelecommunicationOther Industries Education , Others Core Technology Internet of Things (IoT)Other Technologies OthersSustainable Development Goals Quality Education, Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	80000
Raspberry Pi 4 (4 Gb)	Equipment	2	17650	35300
Stepper Motor Nema 17	Equipment	2	4500	9000
Manufacturing Of Rf Circuit	Equipment	1	20000	20000
Acrylic Box	Miscellaneous	1	5000	5000
Jumper Wires,Soldering Iron, Adapter	Equipment	1	2000	2000
Thesis Printing ,Poster, others	Miscellaneous	1	5000	5000
Stepper Driver	Equipment	1	2000	2000
Arduino UNO	Equipment	1	900	900
ADS 1115	Equipment	4	200	800