28/11/2017

A Brief Overview on Chamber Validation

Techniques and Components for Compliance
Testing per Various EMC Standards
Anoop Adhyapak
RF Engineer, ETS-Lindgren Inc.
anoop.adhyapak@ets-lindgren.com

Outline
• Emissions Testing
• Normalized Site Attenuation Method
• Reference Site Attenuation Method
• Antennas’ Calibration for NSA
• sVSWR Method
• TDsVSWR Method
• Antenna Requirements for sVSWR
• References

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Emissions Testing, Frequency Ranges with

Antennas
• Frequency Range – 9kHz to 30 MHz
• Using Magnetic Loop Antenna
• Using Electric Rod Antenna
• Frequency Range – 30 MHz to 1 GHz
• Using Dipole, Biconical, Log-Periodic, Double-ridged horn
Antennas
• Frequency Range – 1 GHz to 18 GHz
• Using Waveguide horns, double ridged horn antennas
• Frequency Range – 18 GHz to 40 GHz
• Using Waveguide horns, double ridged horn antennas

Emissions Testing, Frequency Ranges with

Antennas
Antenna 9 kHz to 30 MHz 30 MHz to 1 GHz 1 GHz to 40 GHz
Rod (passive) Yes No No
Dipole (passive) No Yes No
Biconical dipole No Yes No
Log-periodic dipole array No Yes No
Loop (passive) Yes No No
Waveguide horn No No Yes
Active monopole Yes No No
Double-ridged horn No Yes Yes

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Chamber Validation Techniques

• Semi Anechoic Chamber
• Frequency Range – 30 MHz to 1 GHz
• Normalized Site Attenuation Method
• Fully Anechoic Room
• Frequency Range – 30 MHz to 1 GHz
• Free Space Normalized Site Attenuation Method
• Normalized Site Attenuation Method

Chamber Validation Techniques

• Semi Anechoic Chamber
• Frequency Range – 1GHz to 18 GHz
• site VSWR Method, Time Domain site VSWR Method
• Semi Anechoic Chamber
• Frequency Range – 18 GHz to 40 GHz
• site VSWR Method, Time Domain site VSWR Method

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Normalized Site Attenuation Method

Normalized Site Attenuation Method

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Normalized Site Attenuation Method

EUT less than 1m depth, 1.5m width, 1.5m height and with
periphery greater than 1m from the closest material that may
cause undesirable reflections

Normalized Site Attenuation Method

AN = VDirect − VSite − AFT − AFR − ∆AFTOT
AN = Measured Normalized Site Attenuation,
AFT = Antenna Factor of Transmitting Antenna,
AFR = Antenna Factor of Receiving Antenna,
ΔAFTOT = Mutual Impedance Correction Factor,
VDirect = Cable Correction,
VSite = Maximum of the measured scanned response

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Normalized Site Attenuation Method

• NSA deviations from the theoretical site attenuation
shall be less than ± 4 dB
• ANSI C63.4 2009 -> ANSI C63.7 1992 -> ANSI C63.4 1992 ->
ANSI C63.6 1988 or CISPR 16-1-4
• Measurement System (SigGen, Receiver/Spectrum Analyzer)
Calibrations, Surrounding Area, Antenna and Cabling
Placement.
• Vertical Polarization used as basis for troubleshooting.
Further problems could be due to balun, inadequate
reference ground plane size, close reflecting objects
and so on.

Normalized Site Attenuation Method

• Variations between chambers
• Test Range Distance: 3m, 5m, 10m
• Chamber Cavity Size
• Quiet Zone size: 1.2m, 1.5m, 2m, 3m, 4m, 5m, 6m
• Absorber Treatment
• Measurement Axis angle
• Test Equipment: Receivers, Positioners
• Antennas
• Preamps
• Cables
• Test Setup Repeatability

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Normalized Site Attenuation Method

• Measurements done at different distances and Inverse Distance Falloff
assumption used to estimate the value of field.
• Inverse Distance Falloff based on a small source in a free-space environment
and far-field conditions (1/r rule where r is measurement distance)
• Reflective ground plane violation of the free space environment
• Far-field condition ambiguous
• At 30 MHz, far-field at 5m from EUT for half wavelength, 10m at one wavelength,
20m at two wavelength and so on
• At 100 MHz, far-field at 3m for one wavelength, 6m for two wavelength and so
on.
• At 300 MHz, far-field at 1m for one wavelength, 2m for two wavelength and so
on.

Normalized Site Attenuation Method

• Historically many papers addressing the issue of Inverse
distance falloff plus near-field and far-field criteria
from 1969 to 2009
• Conclusion: No papers were found that show 1/r
relationship works for real life products from 30 MHz to
1000 MHz

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Antennas’ Calibration for NSA

• Antenna Factors Computation
• Standard Site Method
• Reference Antenna Method
• Equivalent Capacitance substitution method (monopoles)
• Prerequisites
• OATS with NSA within ±2 dB variations, R = 10m, h1 = 2m, h2 = 1
to 4m scan
• VSWR of antennas to be less than 2:1 or attenuators to be used
• Geometry Specific Correction Factors

Antennas’ Calibration for NSA

• Antenna Symmetry
• Biconical and hybrid antennas
• Separation distance 10m, linearly polarized
• Receive antenna (AUT) 1m height and flipped 180˚
• Transmit antenna 1 to 4m scan, maximum response recorded
• Signal levels within ± 1 dB

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Antennas’ Calibration for NSA

• Standard Site Method
• Horizontally polarized
• Mutual coupling between
antenna and orthogonal
cable is negligible
• Scattering from cable is
negligible
• Horizontal pol ground
reflection less
sensitive to ground
plane conductivity and
permittivity than
vertical pol
• Ground plane edge
reflections are smaller

Antennas’ Calibration for NSA

• Standard Site Method
• Cables routed 1m back
• 10 dB attenuators to
both antennas
• NFSAFs with tuned
dipoles and biconical
converted to FSAFs with
GSCFs
• NFSAFs for log periodic
and hybrid antennas

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Antennas’ Calibration for NSA

• Reference Antenna Method
• Roberts Dipole to be used as
Reference antenna
• Antenna A1 to be positioned from
2.5m to 4m
• Antenna A2 height chosen to avoid
null from reflection, scan better
• AF of unknown antenna computed by
substituting with the reference
antenna
• AF to be added if signal level less
than reference antenna and vice
versa

Free Space Normalized Site

Attenuation Method

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Free Space Normalized Site

Attenuation Method
• FSNSA deviations from the theoretical site attenuation
shall be less than ± 4 dB
• Factors reducing the measurement uncertainty are
shielded cables, ferrites on cables, attenuators, good
balun balance
• FAR site validation procedure to be performed regularly
to detect long term changes in environment.

Antennas’ Calibration for FSNSA

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h ≥ d *
3
h = the height of the
antennas
d = antenna separation
distance

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sVSWR Method

sVSWR Method
E V SVSWR ,dB = Vmax, dB − Vmin, dB
SVSWR = max = max
Emin Vmin SVSWR , dB = Emax, dB − Emin, dB
Emax = Maximum received signal
Emin = Minimum received signal
Vmax = Corresponding maximum voltage measured using
receiver or spectrum analyzer
Vmin = Corresponding minimum voltage measured using
receiver or spectrum analyzer

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sVSWR Method
• The acceptance criterion
is:
• SVSWR 2:1 or 6 dB

sVSWR Method
• sVSWR can be an adventure
• sVSWR tests are performed on a yearly basis.
• It takes approximately one day
• Failure or pass is not known until data is collected and
post processed

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sVSWR Method
• The maximum sVSWR from the CISPR method is not often achieved at
lower frequencies (<2 GHz) because the sample distance is limited
to 40 cm,
• At higher frequencies, 40 cm is too long to assume small phase
perturbation needed by spatial movement. 6 samples positions are
too sparse.
• 50 MHz frequency step is too sparse, and misses peaks.
• Catch the peak in sVSWR = finding a needle in a haystack. The
nature of the data makes it more suitable to judge the results
using statistical metrics. Otherwise, the resulting sVSWR could
be sensitive to small antenna displacement, or a slight frequency
step change (for example using a 49.9 MHz step vs. a 50 MHz step).

TDsVSWR Method

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TDsVSWR Method
• Measure the vector s21 between the two antennas with the
gate around the main response
• First “gate in” to obtain the direct data
• Second “gate out” to obtain the reflections
• In frequency domain, perform gate-out/gate-in to get the
reflection coefficient ρ. sVSWR is then:

TDsVSWR Method

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TDsVSWR Method

TDsVSWR Method
• Data are collected at approximately 3.5 MHz step
• The data from both TD & CISPR methods are “noise-like”
when plotted against frequencies with the means removed
(although they are not noises, and are repeatable). The
best way to compare is to use a moving average with a
120 MHz window.
• TDmavg: moving average of the TD method
• CISPRmavg: moving average of the CISPR method
• σ: standard deviation of the data within the moving
window

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TDsVSWR Method
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TDvswr - TDmavg
6 ±1σ
±2σ
TDvswr - TDmavg (dB)

4 ±3σ
2

-2

-4

-6

-8
2 4 6 8 10 12
frequency (Hz) 9
x 10

TDsVSWR Method
sVSWR in dB sVSWR in linear unit

0.6 y data 4 xx1 data

Normal 3.5 LogNormal
0.5 Nakagami-m Nakagami-m
3
0.4
2.5
Density

Density

0.3 2

1.5
0.2
1
0.1
0.5

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8
Data Data

Normal distribution for data in dB (log-normal for linear sVSWR)

does a good job fitting the data

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TDsVSWR Method
• TD method can detect chamber defects more
accurately/thoroughly
• How to match to the CISPR method-To match the lower
levels of severity of the CISPR method, 0.676*stdev
(75%) can be used for the TD method (1*stdev is 84%).
• With the statistical approach, we can be honest about
the real performance of the chamber with a predetermined
confidence level

TDsVSWR Method
How to decide the moving mean window size?
autocorrelation
1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

-0.2
-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60
lags

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TDsVSWR Method
Chamber #1 Chamber #2
Moving Mean sVSWR by TD and CISPR, position=F (f6h1Gin.cti) Moving Mean sVSWR by TD and CISPR, position=F (f6h2Gin.cti)
15 15
TDmavg TDmavg
CISPRmavg CISPRmavg

10 10

sVSWR (dB)
sVSWR (dB)

5 5

0 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 2 4 6 8 10 12
frequency (Hz) 9 frequency (Hz) x 10
9
x 10

TDsVSWR Method
Chamber #3 Chamber #4
Moving Mean sVSWR by TD and CISPR, position=Left (data08.f1) sVSWR by TD and CISPR (50MHz interval), position=L (l3v1Gin.cti)
15 15
TDmavg TD
CISPRmavg CISPR
TDmavg+1σ

10 10
sVSWR (dB)

sVSWR (dB)

5 5

0 0
2 4 6 8 10 2 4 6 8 10 12
frequency (Hz) 9 frequency (Hz) 9
x 10 x 10

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TDsVSWR Method
• Can correlate closely to the CISPR sVSWR results
• Better repeatability because a statistical metric is
used instead of a randomly chosen number at every 50
MHz. Results are much more immune to small variations
in antenna positioning or frequency shift.
• Faster (1/6th of measurement points)
• Bounded and predictable measurement uncertainties, and
more mathematically rigorous.

TDsVSWR Method
• Retains the benefit of CISPR VSWR method - antenna
calibrations are not required
• Can aid chamber debugging using time of arrival
information: a user can estimate how far a significant
reflection comes from.
• Draft C63.25 document expected soon in ANSI C63

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TDsVSWR Method-Chamber Debugging

Right_V position, TDsVSWR before correction

sVSWR (dB)

TDsVSWR Method-Chamber Debugging

TD response for the Right_V position

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TDsVSWR Method-Chamber Debugging

Getting the right reflection distance

Difference = 24.56ns – 15.89ns

= 8.67 ns
~ 8.67 ft
= 2.643 m
Total reflection path length,
T = 4.1 + 2.643 = 6.743 m

TDsVSWR Method-Chamber Debugging

Finding the right reflection in Ray Path Tool
Left Wall Right Wall

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TDsVSWR Method-Chamber Debugging

Final Measured Result

sVSWR (dB)

Antenna Requirements for sVSWR

• Transmit Antenna
• Omnidirectional Pattern – Dipole
like
• E-plane Pattern not allowed to enter
forbidden area
• Minimum HPBW 30˚

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Antenna Requirements for sVSWR

• Transmit Antenna
• H-plane Pattern not
allowed to enter
forbidden area
• Receive Antenna
• Linearly polarized
and same as used for
EUT emissions
measurements
1 to 6 GHz 6 to 18 GHz

References
• ANSI C63.4 – 2009, “American National Standard for Methods of Measurement of Radio-Noise Emissions from Low-
Voltage Electrical and Electronic Equipment in the Range of 9 kHz to 40 GHz”
• ANSI C63.5 – 2017, “American National Standard for Electromagnetic Compatibility—Radiated Emission Measurements
in Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Control—Calibration and Qualification of Antennas (9 kHz to 40 GHz)”
• ANSI C63.6 – 1988, “American National Standard for Electromagnetic Compatibility – Open Area Test site measurements
– guide for the computation of errors”
• ANSI C63.7 – 1992, “American National Standard Guide for Construction of Open-Area Test Sites for Performing
Radiation Emission Measurements”
• ANSI C63.25, Draft Standard for Methods of Measurement Requirements for the Validation of Radiated Emission Test
Sites, 2015.
• CISPR 16-1-4 – 2010, “Specifications for radio disturbance and immunity measuring apparatus and methods-Part1-4:
Radio disturbance and immunity measuring apparatus –Antennas and test sites for radiated measurements”
• CISPR 16-1-6 – 2014, “Specification for radio disturbance and immunity measuring apparatus and methods – Part 1-6:
Radio disturbance and immunity measuring apparatus – EMC antenna calibration
• Daniel D. Hoolihan, “Radiated Emission Measurements at 1/3/5/10/30 Meters”, May 2012

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THANK YOU

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