Boeing photo

Boeing’s Near Field Test Facility (NFTF) is an innovative indoor near field RCS measurement facility for analysis of aircraft parts, models, and full-scale production aircraft. The system operates over the 0.2 to 18.0 GHz range. In addition to supporting ongoing development programs and special projects, the NFTF plays a critical role in F/A-18E/F Super Hornet production. A sample of approximately 25% of new production aircraft undergoes a detailed evaluation in the NFTF to verify the airplane's radar cross section.

As part of a system upgrade, The Howland Company developed a range geometry design including a unique antenna enclosure and aperture to minimize chamber wall, floor, and ceiling illumination; antenna layout; and RF absorber fence design. The project also included a self-propelled field probe. The design effort included a tradeoff study for the range geometry layout and a detailed field distribution analysis to optimize the aperture design for the required target zone size. We also designed a system add-on to permit low-frequency RCS measurements.

A nice YouTube video showing Boeing's Bird of Prey technology
demonstrator in flight and on the Near Field Test Facility turntable:

To download a Windows Media Player version
of the video, right click here. ( file, 3.5MB)

For more information on the NFTF, see Paul J. De Groot and Melba Westerhold, "Boeing Near Field Test Facility (NFTF) Upgrades & Design Tradeoffs," presented at the meeting of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association (AMTA), Monterey, California, 4-8 October 1999.