Diseño de un medidor de parámetros eléctricos de antenas basados en Radio Definida por Software (SDR) utilizando USRP 2944R

Abstract

Currently, SDR technology is constantly evolving and is a platform for countless applications, especially in the area of telecommunications. The physical communications systems of the different communications technologies have been reduced to simple modules that are programmable by software, such as GNU radio, Labview Communication; since they are not limited to a single modulation scheme, bandwidth, or frequencies at which they will operate. This implies cost reduction by having an equipment that can be updated by software instead of having several equipment of different technologies for a certain use (Gonzalez, 2019). The present work describes the design and implementation of a module to measure the electrical parameters of the antennas, using SDR technology by means of the USRP 2944R of National Instrument. The same that were programmed in Labview Communication in order to evaluate the performance parameters of different antennas in the 5GHz frequency such as: Radiation Pattern, Beamwidth, Bandwidth Directivity, Characteristic Impedance, Gain, Polarization, Radiation Efficiency, VSWR among others. The prototype works for the 5GHz band, consists of a USRP 2499R transmitter equipment that incorporates a base for fixing the Yagui and dipole antennas and a USRP 2944R receiver consisting of a patch antenna mounted on a rotating structure controlled through Arduino for stepper motor control. To capture the levels of radiation signals emitted by the transmitting antenna which are necessary to scheme the parameters of the study antennas. The dipole and Yagui antennas were designed in ANSYS software at a frequency of 5GHz, to determine characteristics, radiation patterns, gain, power, etc., which are compared with the proposed SDR module.