The Field Uniformity Analysis in a Triangular Prism Reverberation Chamber with a QRD

Abstract

This letter presents the field uniformity characteristics of a triangular prism reverberation chamber. A reverberation chamber that generally uses a stirrer to create a uniform electric field inside is an alternative to the semi-anechoic chamber for an electromagnetic compatibility test. To overcome the size and maintenance problems of a stirrer, we propose to replace it with a Quadratic Residue Diffuser which is commonly used in acoustics. To confirm that the diffuser is a valid alternative to the stirrer, a diffuser and an equilateral triangular prism reverberation chamber are designed and fabricated for 2.3-3.0 GHz operation. To investigate the field uniformity characteristics by varying the location of the transmitting antenna, both simulation and measurement in the triangular prism reverberation chamber were also done at its two positions, respectively. A commercial program XFDTD 6.2, engaging the finite difference time domain (FDTD), is used for simulation and a cumulative probability distribution, which the IEC 61000-4-21 recommends, is used to evaluate the field uniformity. Both simulation and measurement results show that the field uniformity in the chamber satisfies the international standard requirement of 6 dB tolerance and 3 dB standard deviation, which means that a diffuser can be substituted for a stirrer.