Fast Array Diagnosis Based on Measured Complex Array Signals with Short Measurement Distance

Fast array diagnosis method is of great importance for ensuring reliable array performances in the fifth generation (5G) communication systems. In this paper, a fast array diagnosis method is presented for antenna arrays composed of several subarrays. The objective is to detect the failures based on the
measured complex array signals in short measurement distance. A single probe is required to record the array response in the near-field of the array. All the array elements are excited simultaneously, and only phase shift states of 0◦ and 180◦ are required in the measurements. For a base station (BS) antenna
array with N subarrays, N + 1 measurements are required, resulting in a fast diagnosis process. Finally, the proposed method was validated in an antenna array composed of 4 subarrays with 3 antenna elements in each subarray and successful diagnosis results (both for the whole subarray and single antenna element failure cases) can be observed.