A brief history of near-field measurements of antennas at theNational Bureau of Standards

The US National Bureau of Standards (NBS) played a pioneering role in the development of practical planar near-field antenna measurement techniques. A brief history is presented of that role, which began with theoretical studies to determine corrections for diffraction in a microwave measurement of the speed of light. NBS contributions to the development of nonplanar near-field measurement theory and practice are also described