Professional Documents
Culture Documents
There is evidence that during the Tva.r, German milit,ary conceived a new idea. W e we might not be surprised to
scient.ist.s ca.refullywatched over the ferrite investigations learn that. he hadcovered the walls of a rectangular room
of J. L. Snoek at Philips Eindhoven, The Net.herlands, witit.hSalisbury screen absorber, his idea. wasmore effectrive.
with appreciation of the significance that, ferrites might He covered the inner surface of a long pyra.mida1 shaped
have to absorbers. structure wit.h this a,bsorber and was able to demonstrate
The United States project in the 1941-1945 period was that t.he level of reflect,ed signals returned to a test region
led by Halpern at the bf.1.T. Radiation Laborat.ory [4]- at the aperture was much lower than the reflections from
[SI. From t,his workevolved the mat.erials known as a panel of the same absorber at normal incidence. The
“HARP” (Halpern-anti-radar-paint). Theterm“Paint” improvement, was att.ributed to the fact, that this geom-
referred more to t,he goals of the project ra.t.hert,han the etry gave rise to mult.iple reflections in the direction of
results achieved. Two types of resonant, absorbers from t,hepyramid apex. This facility was put. t,o pra.ct,ical
t.his project saw application. Bot,h would more properly measurement use by the R.adia.tionLaboratory.
be referred to as rubber sheets rather than paint. Both
offeredreflect,ion reduct,ion of15-20 dB at resonance. 1945-1950 PERIOD
Both were especially well designed 1vit.h rega.rd to phys-
ical properties for t.heir respective applications in airborne One idea dominated t.his period in import.ance. The
and shipborne environments. The airborne version (known idea was t.ha.t a broad-band a.bsorber could be achieved
as MX-410) was a remarkably thin light weight absorber. u-ith a material which gradually tapered from character-
With a thickness of only 0.025 in for resonance at. X band, istics near that of free space at, t,he front surface to those
it. came closer to “paint” thickness than any other ab- of a dissipat,ive medium at the back surface. During this
sorber ever made. Its thinness is a tribute to the success- period, a number of individuals in a number of organiza-
ful development of an artificial dielect.ric for tjhe base t.ions performed work on such an arrangement [lo]-[14].
ma.teria1that had a real part to thedielect.ric constant. of It seems likely t.hat.a least, some were inspired by knowl-
approximately 150! This high dielectric constant. was edge of the prior art of “dummy load” design. In that,
achieved t.hrough use of a high concent.ration and high area it. had been learned that, low reflection over a. wide
degree of alignment, of disc shaped aluminum flakes in a band of frequencies could be achieved through use of long
rubber mat.& Carbon black provided the proper loss gradual geometrical transhion from a sha.rp point, into
tangent.The shipboard version was outstanding n-ith dissipative materia.1. In fact, some of the experimenters of
regard to ruggedness as achieved through use of a high this period made free-space absorbers using typical dummy
concentra.t,ionof iron particles in a tough neoprene rubber load mat.erials of that. time;Le., carbon loaded into plaster
binder. With a dielectric const,ant of about 20, resonance of pa,ris. Others experimented with a \vide variet,y of other
at, X band required a. thickness of about 0.07 in. The dissipative elements such as graphite, ironoxide, powdered
magnet,ic permeability of the iron even at such high fre- iron, powdered aluminum and copper, steel wool, wat,er
quencies was sufficient to provide some resonance broad- powdered “Advance” and “Constantin,” and metal wires.
ening [SI-[7]. Binders of various plastics and ceramics were used. The
In addition t o theHARP materials, the so-called adva.ntage of having much air (i.e., free space) near t,he
Salisbury screen absorber was also developed at.t,he front. surface was early apprecia.ted by some who worked
Radia.t.ion La,boratory during this period. Salisbury [SI wit.h open media such as excelsior,fibers, and foams.
showed that a resonant absorber could be achieved by Experimental workwas done on avariety of surface
locating a resistive sheet. having a. resistance of 377 Q/sq, geometrics involving pyramids, cones, hemispheres and
a quarter-wavelength out from a refleding surface. Inter- wedges. Nore recent work on scatt,ering from absorbing
est in a practical version of such an arrangement spread wedges has been reported byBucci and Franceschett.i [151.
rapidly and led to the manufact.ure by the U.S. Rubber Broad-band absorption was able t.0 be achieved, not only
Company of a special resistive cloth, known as Uskon by gradual geomet.rica1shaping of the front surface, but
Cloth, specifically for this purpose. With t.he resistive also by increasing the dissipation of the absorber with
layer available, theday had come where an engineer dept.h from a flat outer surface. It was also 1ea.rned that
could readily make an absorber t.hat would be useful over the loss could be either distributed or lumped into thin
a f20-30 percent, frequency range. Construction in prac- discrete layers (such as, resist.ive sheet.s) which could be
t,icewas simple; forexample, the S-band version was oriented either perpendicular or parallel to the direct,ion
cust.omarily made by adhering metal foil to one side of of propa.gationof the incident wave. Patents were awarded
a piece of $-in thick plywood and Uskon C1ot.h to the on the idea of achieving broad-band absorption through
other side. The dielect.ricconst.ant,of the wood was appro- gradual transition to Tiley (Philco Corporat,ion inthe
priat.eto achieve resonance near 3 GHs with this thickness. Unit,ed States) [ll] and t>oSa.lati (Haseltine Corporation
One other idea of importance t.0anechoic cha.mbers in Canada) [12].
also came from work at the “Radiation Laboratory” dur- Probably the most. extensive and successfulwork on
ing the war yea.rs. Neher [9], in need of a way to improve br0a.d-band absorption during this period wasaccom-
the accuracy of indoor measurements he wa.s making, plished by Wright of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
486 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AYTEKNAS AX- PROPAGATION, JULY 1973
He had worked on t.he absorber project at the M.I.T. 1) A new generation of broad-band absorbers offering
Radiation Laboratory during t.he war and became leader -40 dB reflection coefficient for a.ngles near normal. The
of that project short.ly after it was transferred to theU S . improved performance resulted primarily from the use of
Naval Research Laboratory in 1946. For ma.ny years he a shaped (convoluted) front surfa.ce in contrast to the
cont,inued to be at t.he forefront of most developments in flat front surfaceof the hair absorber.
this area [7],[lS],[17]. 2) Antenna pat,tern comparison technique of meam-
Some of those experimenting with broad-band absorb- ing chamber performance. Wit.h t,his measurement pro-
ers made sufficient. quantities of their materials to allow cedure the level of reflected signals was determined by
them to cover panels for use in intercepting reflections recording the pat.tern of an antmema at a number of differ-
knomm to be causing error to indoor measurement.s. ent locations wit,hin the test region of t.he chamber and
overla.ying t.heserecordings. Differences bet.ween patterns
THE EARLY 1950’s
were attributed to different, phase relationships between
. This period is dominated in importance by one develop- t,he reflected signals and the actxal pattern. A quant,itative
ment-the commencement, of commercial manufacture of value for the level of reflections arriving from various
an absorbing material. The material chosen for productmion angles was determined from t.he maximum differences
was the so-called “Hair” absorber. Emerson of t.he U.S. observed within the family of patterns at various angles
Naval Research Laboratory demonstrated that an effec- [23].
tive broad-band absorber could be made by dipping or 3) New cha.mberdesigns. Prior to this period, chambers
spraying carbon black onto a bat of loosely spun animal had been intheform of a simple rectanguhr shape.
hair such as was used in upholstering and packing in tha.t Buckley was amrded patents ont,wo different ways of
day [17]-[19]. This development caught. t,he interest of reducing chamber reflections wit,h different. geometries.
Van Atta (then Head of an ant.enna group at t.hat labo- One involved use of a. wall across t,he chamber Lith an
ratory). He foresaw t.hat such a material would be useful a.pert,urethrough which t.hedirect signal propaga.t.ed[24].
to the a.ntenna community for cont,rolling reflections of The location of this wall was such as to keep the side wall
both indoor and outdoor measurements. It. was largely surfaces in the “shadow” so as to prevent. specular wall
through Van Atta’s effortsthat a large enough init,ial reflections from entering the test region. The other in-
order was collected to encourange ma.nufa.cture.Produc- volved shaping the side walls of a chamber int.0 1ongit.u-
tion was started in 1951 by the Sponge Products Com- dinal baf€les (ridges) so t,hat specular reflections took
pa.ny, Shelton, Conn. (which later became a division of place in direct.ionsa.n-ayfrom the t,est.region [25]. These
the B. F. Goodrich Compa.ny). The early material (known techniques allowed lower reflection levels to be achieved
as Spongex) was %in thick. It offered a reflection co- with the absorbers of t,hat,day [ZS].
efficient.for angles near normal incidence of about - 20 dB 4) The first shielded anechoic chambers. Integrating
over t.he frequency range of 2400 through 10 000 MHz. chambers n-ith shielded enclosureswasshown to be a.n
This was soon followedby 4- and S-in thick versions with effective solution to thegrowing problem of interference to
low frequency limit.snear 1000 and 500 MHz, respectively. and from chamber measurements.
From t,heinitial order for absorber, the first. “dark- 5) The providing of chambers on a turnkey basis. It
rooms” were built at a number of government, and com- was shown t,he experience of an absorber manufact,urer in
mercial organizations. One, at, the U.S. Naval Research the specialized aspects of a chamber such as design,
Laborat.ory, n-as rather t.horoughly studied by Simmons const.ruction, and test allowed the achievement of per-
and Emerson [20]-[22]. Probing wit.h a monopole revealed formance at lower cost. The day was passing when it was
that the level of reflected signals a t S band was about adva.ntageous for an engineer to buy absorber, design a.nd
20 dB below t,he level of the direct signal. build his o m chamber.
While a chamber of such performa.nce today would be During this period at, t.he University of Goettingen,
considered of quite limited usefulness, the engineers of Germany, Meyer [27],[28] was able to bring expertise
t.hat day enthusiast,ically embraced t,he idea of making over from his original field of sound absorption to that of
antenna measurement,sin chambers rather than outdoors, electromagnetic Tave absorpt,ion and introduce a number
and t,he use of this absorber to make simple chambers of novel ideas a.nd concepts that had not been previously
grew rapidly. By t,he end of this period Emerson & Cum- encountered by microwave engineers. He and his associate
ing, Inc., and A1cMilla.n Industrial Corporat,ion were also H. Severin directed a number of graduate students at the
ma.nufacturing absorbers in quantity. university in work associated with electromagnetic ab-
sorption [25>[30]. This work included both t.heoretical
THELATE 1950’s and experimental absorber studies based on such diverse
There a.ppear to be two prominent. contributors to t.he ideas as resist.ance loaded loops, slots in resistive foil,
field in t,his period; Buckley at Emerson B Cuming, Inc., resistance loaded dipoles, strips of magnet,ic material with
and hleyer at the University of Goet,tingen in Germany. various orientations, st.rips of resistive materials with
Buckley made a number of advancements of significance various orient,ations, surface shaping, and magnet.ic load-
to t,he chamber field. They are as follows. ing of resonant materials. Neyer is also to be credited with
EMERSOW: ABSORBERS 9h’D ANECHOIC C€L%MBERS
Frequency (MHz)
Fig. 2. Reflection levels measured in large state-of-the-art
chambers of both rectangular and tapered design.
Fig. 3. Large rectangular chamber for susceptibility
measurement of aircraft.
level of the reflected signals which cause the observed
peri0dicit.y at each angle. Curves are customarily plotted
to show the variation of reflect,ion levelof a cha.mberwit.h measurements involving multiple sources, moving SourCes
aspect angle. This measurement technique is able to pro- or bistatic radar cross section. They cannot be used for
vide quantitat,ive measurements of reflection levels t.o as measurements involving absolute field strength since they
low as 80 dB below the direct signa.1 level under some provide path loss different. from that of free space. Rec-
conditions. It is also able to indicate with some degree of tangular chambers areto be preferred for work with
circular polarizat,ion or rotathg linear polarization al-
accuracy t,he angle of arrival of reflected signals, which
though the newer designsinvolving tapers of circular cross
is useful in studying chamber phenomena.
section are sometrimessatisfactory in t.his regard. Because
4) Improved chamber designs. Whilemost chambers
in the 1950’s were in the form of a rectangular shell of their advantages, however, about half the cha,mbers
covered on the ent?ireinner surface with a single type of installed in recent. years have used this design. Some 125
t.apered cha.mbersnow exist.
’absorber, chambers in the 1960’s began t,o appear with
other shapes and absorber arrangements.
DAYAPPLICATIONS
PRESENT
The most widely applied of the new geometxies was one
developed by Emerson, involving a chamber in t,he form This brings us t,o t.he present stage of development of
of a pyramidal horn [41]-[44]. A chamber of this design b0t.h absorbers and chambers. Let us conclude by briefly
tapers from a small cross sect,ion in the region of the il- reviening t>hemore import,ant applications to which ab-
luminating antennaup to a large cubical shaped test sorbers are applied t.hese days.
region in which the device undertest is located. It is 1) Anechoic Chambers: More absorber is used in cham-
usually called a (%aperedchamber.” The diverging geom- bers t,han other a.pplicat.ions.Absorbers for cha.mbers are
etry effect.ivelyavoids wide-angle specular reflection from available with a variet,y of characteristics of which the
the side walls, floor and ceiling, which limit t,he anechoic most. important are t,he following: low normal incidence
performance of a rect,angular chamber at. low frequencies. reflection for chamber back walls; low forward scatter a,t
At the higher frequencies where a more directional source wideangles for t,he specular regions of side walls,floor
antenna can be employed, and where the absorbing prop- and ceiling of pat,tern measurement. chambers; a.nd low
ert.ies of t,he anechoic materials are better t.han at the backscatter at wide angles for side walls, floor and ceiling
lower frequencies, these chambers are usually employed or RCS measurement chambers. Other absorbers with
in the conventional mode. more modest properties and lower price are available for
I n view of the extensive use of this design, comment use in less sensitive regions of chambers which come into
is here offered on it,s salient characteristics. Rectangular import.ance primarily with regard to multiple reflections.
chambers are able to reduce reflections to t.he -40 dB Other absorbers are available with charact,eristics which
level at frequencies down to about 1 GHz. The tapered are better suitedto t.he case where propagat.ion is parallel
concept, however, allows achievement of such levels at to the absorber surface such as on the walls of a t,apered
approximately 100 MHz. Tapered chambers have been chamber.
designed, evaluated and used at frequencies as low as Fig. 1 shows the reflection reduction offered a t both
30 MHz. Not only does a chamber of t.his t.ype exhibit \ride angles and normal incidencesfor state-of-the-art
better low frequency performance, but it is able to do so absorbers. Fig. 2 shows the level of reflected signals that
wit>hsignificant saving of cost as a result of less surface have been achieved in large st.at,e-of-the-art chambers of
area a.nd use of less expensive absorbers. b0t.h t,apered a.nd rect.angular design. Pictures of two
Tapered chambers are notm-it,hout limitations however. chambers are shown in Figs. 3 a.nd 4. Those interested in
Since only a single source antenna can be located at. the detailed information on chambers of today may find
t,aper apex, tapered cha.mbers are not well suited for [45)-[60] useful.
EMERSOK: .=SORBERS AND XYECHOIC C H - U B E R S 489
REFERENCES
[l] Naamlooze Vennootschap Machmerieen, French Patent 802 728,
Feb. 19, 1936.
[2] H. A. Schade, “Schornsteinfeger,” U.S. Tech. Mission to
Europe, Tech. Rep. 90-45 AD-47’746, May 1945.
[3] G. G. MacFarlane, “Radar camouflage, research and develop-
ment by the Germans,” T. 1905, M/99, TRE,July 23, 1945.
[4] 0. Halpren and h.1. J. Johnson, Jr., “Radar, summary report
of HARP project,” OSRD Div. 14, vol. 1, pt. T, chs. 9-12.
[5] C. G . Montgomery, R. H. Dicke, and E. Purcell, Principles of
Xzcrowase Circuits (Radiation Lab. Series 8). Boston, h,Iass.:
Boston Tech., 1948.
[6] 0. Halpren, “hIethods and means for minimizing reflection of
high freauencv radio waves.” C.S. Patent 2 923 934.
[i]HY J. Xfontg6mery, J. 1‘. Johnson, and R. W . Wright, “Iso-
tropic absorbing layers,” U S . Patent 2 951 247.
[a] W . W. Salisbury, “Absorbent, body for electromagnetic waves,”
U.S. Patent 2 599 944, June 10, 1952.
[g] L. K. Nehe5 “Konreflecting background for testing microwave
eoumment. US. Patent 2 656 535. Oct. 20. 19.53.
- I ~~
I n t.he case of an airborne radar, for example, absorber “Microwave anechoic chamber,” U.S. Patent 3 120 641,
June 8, 1960.
may be used to cover a bulkhead behind the antenna, t.he I261 -, “Design and evolution of microwave anechoic chamber,”
base of the radome, and parts of trhe antennamechanism. presented a t IRE Joint Meet.ing, Chicago, Ill. Apr..8, 1960.
[27] E. Meyer et a.l., 2. Phys., vol. 138, no. 314, p. 465, 1954.
In a shipboard inst,allation, absorber may beused to cover [28] E.Xeyer and H. Severin, “Absorption devices for electro-
a nearby bulkhead or portions of a mast. magnetic CM waves andtheir acoustic analogs,” 2. Angew.
Phys., vol. 8, pp. 105-114, Mar. 1956.
5 ) Free-Space Termina.tions: There arecondit,ionsunder [29] H. Severin, “Nonreflecting absorbers for microwave radiation,’’
which it is desirable to measure complete syst.ems (such IRE Tram. Antennas Propagut., vol. AP-4, pp. 385-392, July
1956.
as systems onsa,tellit,es) in a shielded environment. to [30] -, “8bsorpt,ion of centimeter waves,” Electron Des., Oct.
prevent. interference. Absorberlined caps or enclosures 1956.
[31] H. J. Schmit, “Breitbandiger resonanzabsorber fur electro-
which mount either over t,he antennas or over the system megnetische Zentimeterwellen,” 2. Angew. Phys., vol. 8, Aug.
have been found useful. For use in high power applica- 1956.
[32] K. Walther, “Reflection factor of gradual transition absorbers
tions, a.bsorbers are available which handle in excess of for electromagnetic and acoust.ic waves,” I R E Trans. Antennas
100 W/in2. Propagat., vel. ~ p - 8pp;,608-621,
, K ~ V1960.
.
I331 H. Von Haddenhorst., ’Durchgang von elektromagnetischen
Wellen durch inhomogene Schichten,” 2. Angew. Phgs., vol. 8,
CONCLUSION no. 6, pp. 264-267, June 1956.
m e have seen that. thecont.ributions of many individuals
[34] W. Gueth, H. Severin, F. yiekorst, R. Pott.el, and H. Schmitt,
“Absorption and transmission of rad10 waves,” U.S. Air Force
have in a relatively short, period of years brought the field Reps., Contracts AF61(514)-799, AFBl(514)-816, and
AF61(514>876.
of microwave absorbers and a.nechoic chambers to a point I351 E. Meyer, G. Kurtze,H. Severin, and E. T a m , Aczlstiea,
tha,tthey contribut,e significantly in the reduct,ion of no. 3. D. 409. 1953.
[36] G. Mf.svon Epprecht., G . Kurtze, and -4. Lauber, d c u s t i c a , no.
antenna. measurement errors. If progress in *.his area 2, p. 567, 1954.
cont.inues, we should have some interesting new develop- [37] Y . Shimizu?X . Suetake, Y. Xafto, and K. Wakayama, Absorb-
ing:wall utlhzmg: the combinatlon of lossy dielectric layers and
ments in t.he future. a magnetic layer.
490 IEEE TRANSACT1‘ONS ON ATTENNU AND PROPAGATION, VOL. AP-21, NO. 4, %ULY 1973
.-
1381 K. Suetake. “SuDer broadband absorber.’’ U.S. Patent 3 623 099,
~
Nov-23, 1971: A
[50] H. Hollmann, “Antenna test chambers of the Germin Federal
Postal Service,” IVachriChtentech. Z., vol. 8, pp. 129-130, 1971.
[39] R. E. Kiatt, E. F. Knott, and T. B. A. Senior, “A Study of [51] H. Uda, H. Komuro, and Y. Kunhora, “Wide bandlarge
I”absorbers and anechoic rooms,” Univ. Michigan, Ann microwave anechoic chamber,” in 1969 Joint C m . Rec. E h
Arbor, Rep. 5391-1-F. tn6x.l and Electronics Engineers of Japan.
[40] “Procedure of the free-space VSWR field probe technique,” [52] W. H. Emerson and H. B. Sefton, “An improved design for
Emerson and Cuming, Inc., Canton, Mass., Tech. Bull. indoor ranges,’’ Proc. IEEE, vol. 53, pp. 1079-1081, Aug. 1965.
[41] W. H. Emerson, “Anechoic chamber,” U.S. Patent 3 308 463, [53] H. E. King, F. I. Shimabukuro, and J. L. Wong, “Character-
Mar. 7, 1967. istics of a tapered anechoic chamber,’’ IEEE Tram. Antennas
[42] -, “Anechoic chamber,” Canadian Patent 769 289, Oct. 10, Propugat. (Commun.), vol. AP-15, pp. 488-490, May 1967.
1967. [54] W. H. Emerson and F. P. Brownell, “Measurement of the horn
I431 -, “Anechoic chamber,” U.K. Patent 1062 142, Mar. 15, shaped Bunker Ram0 chamber,” B. F. Goodrich Rep. Mw-16,
1967. Aug. 2, 1964.
[44] -, “ch&mbre anechoique,” French Patent 1 444 439. [55] W. H. Emerson, “Measurement of the B. F. Goodrich tapered
1451 W. H. Emerson and F. P. Brownell, “State-of-the-art anechoic chamber at the Marshall Space Flight Center,”B. F. Goodrich
chamber backscatter ranges,” presented a t M.I.T. Lincoln Lab. Rep. hIR-27, June 30, 1965.
Radar Reflecti&y Measurement Symp., June 1964. [56] R. Garnham, “Solutions t o Maxwell’s equations in the tapered
[46] S. Galagen?“Understanding microwave absorbing materiala type of anechoic chamber,” Royal Radar Establishment, Un-
and anecholc chambers,” Miermaves, pt. I, Dec. 1969; pt. 11, published Memo.
Jan. 1970; pt. 111, Apr. 1970; pt. IV, May 1970: [57] J. Steckel and W. Korvin, “Anechoic chamber looks up to cut
[47] B. F. Goodrich Co. Reps. MR-07-MR-117, descnbing measure- costa,’1 Ilfiermaves, Sept. 1965.
ment of many anechoic chambers, 1960-1970. [58] “Measurement of the NASA GoddardSpaceFlightCenter
[48] T. G. Hickman and T. J. Lyon, “Experimental evaluation of vertical anechoic chamber,” B. F. Goodrich Rep. MR-12, 1964.
the hlassachussetta Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory [59] R. C. Johnson, “Antenna range for providing plane waves for
anechoic chamber,” ScientihAtlanta, Atlanta, Ga., Tech. antenna measurements,” U.S. Patent 3 302 205, Jan. 31, 1967.
Rep., 1968. [60] R. C. Johnson, H. Ecker, and hl. R. Moore, “Compact range
[49] J. Appel-Hansen, “Evaluation of a microwave anechoic cham- techniques and measurements,” IEEE Tram. A n f m m Propa-
ber for one-way transmission,” Lab. for Electromagnetic The- gat., v01. AP-17, pp. 568-576, Oct. 1969.
ory, Tech. Univ. Denmark,Lyngby,Denmark,Rep R. 55, [61] K. Kelleher, “Tests of microwave absorbingmaterials for
Jan. 1967. tunnel antennaa,” Melpar Rep. 2, Contract AF19(6040~1898.
Abstract-A comparison between the antenna-pattern comparison anechoic chambers is, that measurements can be carried
technique and the free-space voltage standing-wave ratio techniqueout under specificcontzolled conditions, for example,
for evaluating the reflectivity level of radio anechoic chambers is
independent of weather conditions in nearly reflection-free
presented. Based on an analysis of the two techniques, it is pointed
out which parameters influence the measured value of the reflec- regions and screened from disturbing signals.
tivity level. The comparison is illustrated with experimental resultsSince the first chambers, therehas been a current
and it is explained why inconsistent and uncorrelated results may inkrest in studying met.hods by means of which it would
be foundwhen the two methods are used.Furthermore,it is
be possible to characterize chambers by a figure of merit
demonstrated, by introducingimprovementsinachamber, how
the reflectivity level can be used to measure the improvements.
which indicat.es chamber performance or more precisely
accuracy with which measurements can be carried out.
This work is inspired by the current discussion of finding a figure
of merit for anechoic chambers. Based on the results, anevaluationIt is generally accepted that for different types of measure-
procedure for anechoic chambersis indicated. However,it is pointedmcnt.s, it is necessary to use different methods to h d
out and illustrated by examples that furtherinvestigations are a figure of merit.. In this work a figure of merit characteriz-
necessary before a satisfactory procedure can be outlined.
ing radio anechoic chambers for antenna pat.ternmeasure-
ments is discussed. The figure of merit is called the
I. INTRODUCTION refledvity level and indica,tes t.he ina.ccuracy in recorded
pattern levels due to t.he small but inevitable reflections
D UETO THE progress in antennaand scaktering
studies, interest in indoor measurement ra.nges has
from the walls, floor and ceiling of the anechoic chamber
lined witlthabsorbing material.
increased since t.he first radio anechoic chambers were
constructed in t.he early fifties. The advantage of radio
It is well knovnthat anechoic chambers may be
constructed in many different ways and antennas possess
very different radiation charact.erist,ics. Therefore, it is
Manuscript received October 3, 1972; revised February 21, 1973. probably not possiblet.ofmdonlyone value for the
The author is with the Laboratory of Electromagnetic Theory,
Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark. reflectivity level from which the measurement accuracy