Design and Construction of a Small Reverberation Chamber

Abstract

This paper describes the design of a small reverberation chamber. The lower usable frequency of the reverberation chamber designed in this paper is 2.3 GHz. The upper usable frequency depends on the conductivity of the walls and it is at least 18 GHz. The introduction gives basic information and usage of the reverberation chamber, while the theory is explained in the next section. Unlike other facilities used in the testing of electromagnetic compatibility, the reverberation chamber works with many higher order modes. While other chambers or cells try to avoid the appearance of higher order modes, which tend to destroy a uniform electromagnetic field, the reverberation chamber takes full advantage thereof, creating a statistically homogenous electromagnetic field. After a theoretical overview, there follows the design for building the reverberation chamber, as well as the method of its control, especially the movement of mode stirrers necessary for the reverberation chamber to operate. The lower usable frequency of the chamber depends on the size. We have designed the chamber to be used at 2.3 GHz and above, which resulted in a relatively small size of the chamber (only 0.0174 m3). The designed reverberation chamber was tested and the results validated the design.