Electromagnetic Reverberation Chambers

Chapter 4

Impact of the Physical and Technological Parameters of a Reverberation Chamber

4.1. Introduction

This fourth chapter is mainly devoted to the characterization of the reverberation chambers. In order to test the ability of a chamber to produce an ideal random field, we will use the statistical concepts introduced in the previous chapter. The analysis will also be extended to the measurements of the quality factor.

Section 4.2 is devoted to the design parameters of a chamber. It takes a closer look at the impact of the factors that may influence several functional parameters, such as the position of the lowest usable frequency of the chamber or its composite quality factor. An important part of this section will be devoted to the correlation among the electromagnetic field data. Intuitively, we realize that two very close field samples do not form two rigorously independent variables. It will then be shown that the spatial correlation function of the field samples collected in an ideal reverberation chamber, takes the analytical form of a sine cardinal function. We manage to find from this result the correlation distance, closely related to the wavelength.

Section 4.3 discusses the main mode stirring techniques. Thus, we will examine the techniques of mechanical stirring, of frequency agitation and of changing position of the transmitting (or receiving) antenna.

Section 4.4 is subdivided into four sections. It first concerns the characterization of the efficiency of the ...