Course Background

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Several standards including MIL-STD 461E, RTCA DO 160D, IEC 61000-21, and SAE J551/J113 permit the use of reverberation chambers for EMC certification testing. The recommended test methods for environmental standard testing for UAS systems closely follows the existing MIL and DO 160 standards. This comprehensive course will provide an awareness of all aspects usage of reverberation chambers for EMC testing as a route to compliance.

This course is designed for engineers and technicians who will be involved in radiated emission or immunity testing of commercial or military systems using reverberation chambers. The course will also be valuable to personnel evaluating the use of reverberation chambers as a complement to or replacement for other types of radiated test facilities.

The theory portion covers the statistical nature of reverberation chamber testing, characterization of the EM test conditions, and the tradeoff between uncertainty in test results and test time. The experimental portion includes demonstrations, test setups and instrumentation, statistical sampling techniques (mechanical tuner operation and frequency sweeps), and chamber characterization and calibration measurements. While the experimental portion includes reverberation chamber demonstrations it consists primarily of a series of hands-on experiments conducted in 4 to 5 person groups. The notes format includes the objective, a description of the experiment, instrumentation, test setup, procedures, and room for specific measurements, analyses, results, and conclusions. The experiments and demonstrations are conducted in the small (2.5 x 4 x 7 feet) OSU reverberation chamber and an ETS-Lindgren SMART 80 chamber. The small chamber, constructed in-house by OSU students for less than $1000, indicates the flexibility of the reverberation chamber concept. The small chamber can be used for radiative immunity and emission testing above 1 GHz in accordance with several standards. The chamber demonstrates the statistical equivalence of the electromagnetic environment in all conductive cavities independent of size and construction materials. Participants will have a thorough understanding of the operation of a reverberation chamber for EMC testing. They will have developed a test plan for an immunity test with specified conditions and objectives. They will also have a permanent record of data collected and analyzed, and an extensive set of notes.