Field measurements inside a reverberation chamber

One of the basic problems using reverberation chambers for EMC and antenna measurements is how to conduct accurate field measurements inside the chamber. Two probes, a conventional dipole antenna and an unconventional field probe (an electro-optical (EO) probe), are employed to investigate this problem. Very different measurement results are obtained. It is shown that the presence of the field measuring system affects not only the field around the probe, but also the field distribution inside the chamber. This is also dependent on the chamber size, operational frequency, and transmitting antenna. The dipole measurement results are not as accurate as that obtained using the EO probe within a medium/small sized chamber. The measurements using both probes outside of the chamber have also been undertaken as part of the investigation; very similar results are obtained using both probes. In addition, this study also reveals that the statistical features of the field inside the chamber obtained by both probes are comparable.