Time-Domain Measurement of Antenna Efficiency in Reverberation Chamber

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 57; no. 3; pp. 817 - 821
• Main Author: Khaleghi, A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01-03-2009; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antenna efficiency; Antenna measurements; Antennas; Applied sciences; Bandwidth; Chambers; channel impulse response; Channels; Delay; Delay estimation; Exact sciences and technology; Frequency domain analysis; Frequency measurement; Holes; Measurement methods; Mechanical variables measurement; Pulse measurements; Radiocommunications; Receiving antennas; Reverberation chamber; Reverberation chambers; Stirring; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; time domain; Time domain analysis; Performance evaluation; time domain; Uniform field; Frequency domain method; Time response; channel impulse response; Accuracy; Delayed response; Time domain method; Cavity; reverberation chamber; Transmitting antenna; Pulse response; Volume; Delay time; Measurement method; Reverberation room; Receiving antenna; Antenna efficiency
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2009.2013445

In this communication, we present a new and quick measurement method of antenna efficiency in reverberation chamber. The technique involves the processing of the measured time-domain response of transmit/receive antennas to a short pulse. Thereafter, a large number of multipath taps for an intended frequency and bandwidth are extracted from the channel delay response. Owning to the large delay profile of the channel, overall estimated power of the multipath taps is less variant with the mechanical stirring of cavity modes, i.e., an approximately uniform field throughout much volume of the chamber is obtained. The radiation efficiency of different antennas are measured by the time-domain approach and compared to the traditional method using frequency domain and mechanical stirring. The proposed method has good accuracy even without mechanical stirring of the cavity modes. Consequently, the radiation efficiency of a test antenna can be measured for several frequencies with one single experiment.