ASCII File Format for 3D Patterns

Describe a 3D antenna pattern using an ASCII file format.

The ASCII files can be read with any ASCII text editor and with AMan. Therefore, these files are ideally suited to exchange information about antenna patterns with any other software package.

The following file is supported:

Table 1. File extensions for a 3D antenna pattern in ASCII format.
Extension Meaning Further Information
.apa Antenna pattern ASCII See 3D Antenna Patterns.

The first character in a line defines comments. If a line starts either with # or *, AMan assumes a comment line.

The three or four data per far-field direction must be in one line and always consist of two angles (horizontal and vertical) and one gain information and optionally one phase information. Data for the next far-field direction must always be on a new line; a line can only contain data for one far-field direction.

The data need neither be ordered nor need they have a constant angle increment. All undefined angles are interpolated (if required during computation).

Angle information is stored in degrees and the gain / attenuation in dB. The gain/attenuation is relative to the isotropic radiator; positive values indicate higher gain (compared to isotropic) and negative values indicate attenuation (compared to isotropic). The optional fourth column for far-field phase is in degrees.
Figure 1. Example for ASCII antenna patterns (3D).


Example for ASCII antenna patterns (3D):
* Comments
* Comments
*
*  Theta	      Phi	                 Attenuation
*  Vertical     Horizontal           relative to iso

   0.00	       0.00		                -17.9900
   0.00	      40.00	                   -17.9900
   0.00	      80.00	                   -17.9900
   0.00	     120.00	                   -17.9900
   0.00	     160.00	                   -17.9900
   0.00	     200.00	                   -17.9900
   0.00	     240.00	                   -17.9900
   0.00	     280.00	                   -17.9900
   0.00	     320.00	                   -17.9900
   40.00	      0.00		                -19.3000
   40.00	     40.00	                   -20.4500
   40.00	     80.00	                   -20.3400
   40.00	    120.00	                   -20.0000
   40.00	    160.00	                   -19.5600
   40.00	    200.00	                   -19.7600
   40.00	    240.00	                   -19.9600
   40.00	    280.00	                   -19.7100
   40.00	    320.00	                   -19.0300
   70.00	      0.00		             `  -23.8800
   70.00	     40.00	                   -24.5100
    ……