Measuring the radiation pattern of on-board antennas at sea

Measuring the radiation pattern from antennas operating on ships is costly in terms of time and money. Due to the reflections on the sea surface, multipath influences measurement results. The standard procedures recommend repeating the measurement process several times and then applying a statistical analysis to suppress the multipath effect and obtain the correct antenna radiation pattern. However, a close analysis of the multipath problem using a two-ray model may help to find a measurement setup that minimizes the multipath effect and reduces the need for measurement repetitions. This would dramatically reduce the time and cost of measurements and improve the efficiency of the process.