Antenna phase center analysis for the LOFAR radio telescope

Knowledge of the phase centers of the constituting antennas is important to obtain an accurate array response. This contribution shows an analysis of the antenna phase centers for a station of the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope. Based on simulated patterns, the positions of the phase centers for 46 antennas have been computed at 32 MHz showing considerable deviations from their physical positions due to mutual coupling. The flatness of the phase patterns significantly improves when the phase center is considered.