Calibration of time-domain transfer function for UWB antennas based on antennas factors in frequency domain

A new method for calculating the time-domain (TD) transfer function of ultra-wide band (UWB) antennas, which is used for measuring the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) at VHF, is proposed. The phase of the complex antenna factor is constructed based on the Hilbert transform that describes the relationship between the phase and amplitude of a signal in frequency domain (FD). The detailed steps for calibrating the TD transfer function are discussed, and the calibration uncertainty, whose maximum value equals 2.79 dB, is estimated. The presented method is verified by TEM cell calibration, in which the TD transfer function of a wideband antenna is calculated and used to reconstruct time domain electromagnetic pulse. The results show that the difference between the calibrated result with TEM cell calibration and the reconstructed result is 0.58 dB. © 2017, Electromagnetics Academy. All rights reserved.