Evaluation of effects on electromagnetic field characteristics inside aircraft due to phenol internal structures using a reverberation chamber

Effects on electromagnetic field (EMF) characteristics inside aircraft due to internal structures, such as phenol internal walls are experimentally investigated using a reverberation chamber. This is aiming to improve the accuracy of the numerical analysis method for the electromagnetic compatibility estimation of the Boeing 777 class large aircraft based on finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique. Firstly, the FDTD analysis results of B777-200ER aircraft are compared with that of measured results. The dependencies of material constants of the aircraft model are briefly discussed. Secondly, the EMF loss due to the phenol walls is measured quantitatively using the reverberation chamber. The performance of the chamber is evaluated by the statistical analysis. The field uniformity evaluated by the measured electric field (E-field) strength is less than 3 dB between 500 MHz and 6 GHz. Next, the cumulative distribution function of the measured E-field strength is in good agreement with the theoretical Rayleigh distribution. Finally, the measured quality factor, which is reduced by 20 % at 2 GHz and 25 % at 5 GHz, confirms the loss of EMF due to the phenol walls.