Self-calibration for the multiple channel phase array system based on near-field weighting

Traditional in-field self-calibration techniques for some multiple channel systems, whose volume and weights are limited, are inefficient. A more simple calibration technique, employing only one assistant source in near-field and one transceiver channel, is investigated and it's unnecessary to conduct complex feed circuits behind the antennas. Furthermore, the calibration method in the principle of minimum channel errors with the near-field weighting (NFW) is proposed. It's a method in channel level for the compensation of errors between sub-arrays based on the proved fact that the channel errors have a stronger impact on the beam pattern than the random element errors. The channel errors could be obtained just by one time of measurement. A series of analysis and simulated results demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient in practice.