Electromagnetic Reverberation Chambers

The Reverberation Chamber (RC) is not exactly a well-known facility in the academic world,
although its applications deem it to be a very crucial part of the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)
field. Its counterpart, Anechoic chamber (AC), on the other hand is quite popular and serves more or
less, the same purpose. Both the chambers are Test facilities, primarily used for conducting Radiated
immunity tests. An immunity test basically involves impinging of the Device Under Test (DUT) with
a signal from all directions. For this, in an Anechoic chamber, the DUT is rotated, and the test is
conducted for both polarizations of the transmitting antenna. The reflections within the chamber are
minimized with the help of anechoic absorbers that are placed all over the walls.
The RC on the other hand is like a mini-version of a microwave oven. In an oven, the inner walls are
metallic to maximize reflections and the transmitting antenna is fixed. In order to ensure that the food
item is heated uniformly, it is placed on a rotating disc, which causes penetration and absorption of
microwave energy from all directions. The only difference is that in a RC, the DUT is stationary and a
metallic plate of a specific shape called "Stirrer" is rotated inside the chamber to change the direction
of the EM waves, so that the DUT is impinged equally from all directions and a proper immunity test
is conducted.
RCs have an advantage over ACs that the time and input power required for conducting tests is
significantly less. Construction costs are also comparatively much lower. The testing procedure is also
simpler, as the Device Under Test need not be rotated. Other than EMC tests, the RCs are also used
for conducting antenna parameter tests, dosimetric tests and tests on human body absorption
characteristics.
Last year, In June 2017, as a part of my M.Tech Final Year project, I got the opportunity to work as a
Project Trainee at Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) which is one of the 52
Laboratories in India under Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO). My research
work was focused on the Design and Characterization of a Reverberation Chamber. I published a part
of my work in the International Conference on Information, Communication, Engineering and
Technology (ICICET) 2018, held at Pune (technically sponsored and reviewed by the IEEE Pune
Section), on 29th - 31st August and received the Best Paper award for the same.