This thesis is focused on the development of a novel pendulum-based planar near-field antenna measurement system that is compact, cost-effective, and accurate. This system is capable of characterizing the far-field pattern of an antenna under test (AUT) which is one of the main attribute for evaluating the performance of an AUT. This is accomplished by measuring the electric field component arising from the AUT on a planar surface that is in close proximity to the AUT (i.e., field measurements in the near-field zone of the AUT), and then using mathematical techniques to find the far-field pattern of the AUT. The design of the proposed system is inspired by the motion of free swinging pendulum enabled by the gravitational force. With this natural motion, it is possible to greatly reduce the positioning error of the proposed near-field system and the cost at the same time.