More and more telecommunications systems are being added to automobiles. Examples include cellular phones, GPS navigation, mobile video, and Wi-Fi. These systems operate from a few hundred megahertz up to 6 GHz and higher. For each application, the automobile body and the ground plane effect the system's electromagnetic performance.

Nippon Antenna's R&D center in Itzehoe, Germany has installed a large far-field/near-field system to quantify these effects. The system includes a 12-meter dielectric gantry under a dielectric radome and a ground reflection far-field range. The dielectric gantry provides motion in theta while a 6.5 meter turntable provides motion in phi.

Factory testing of the dielectric gantry and the positioner control system at The Howland Company before shipment to Germany.

The Gantry Positioning System installed in the completed facility.

The Howland Company designed and fabricated the dielectric gantry and its positioning system. It features a dual dielectric truss system driven synchronously from each side by open-loop stepper drive motors. The system has a maximum rotation speed of 1º/sec and a positioning accuracy of ±0.1º.

On the web:

• Nippon Antenna Europe - Homepage
• IBB - A/E firm for the design of the parent building
• Hahlbrock - Supplied the 26m diameter radome for the parent building
• "The Future Begins Here" (Press announcement of opening of the R&D Center, Nov. 2004) Note: This page is in German. Click here for an English translation.

Click here for a video from the facility ribbon-cutting (NDR news report, Windows Media file, 2.5 megs)