A Closer Look at Reverberation Chambers—3-D Simulation and Experimental Verification

Abstract

This paper presents three-dimensional (3-D) full-wave simulations of the electromagnetic field inside a medium-sized reverberation chamber. A frequency-domain method-of-moments approach based on the electric field integral equation is used. A synopsis of the computational challenges particular for reverberation chambers is described and a detailed overview on the chamber modeling procedure is given. The electric field inside the chamber is computed and the influence of small geometric details and asymmetries is investigated as well as the effect of different excitations and stirrers. It is demonstrated that a statistics-based validation of reverberation chamber simulations is insufficient. To validate simulation results, therefore extensive near-field measurements inside the prototype reverberation chamber are performed. The complete 3-D reverberation chamber simulation, considering stirrers, door, and various practical excitations, accurately predicts the fields within the chamber in the important lower-to-medium frequency range and thus represents a reliable tool facilitating reverberation chamber optimization.