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Anechoic Chamber And Antenna Measurement Facility

Frequency Range:    800MHz to 30GHz

 

Background Information 

The idea to design and build a microwave anechoic chamber and antenna data acquisition system for teaching and research in the areas of Antennas, EMC, and EMI was actively pursued in the spring semester of 1996. It was decided that the design and construction of the anechoic chamber and antenna data acquisition system shall be accomplished by the students and faculty members of the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

 A grant proposal was submitted in the spring semester of 1996 to the College of Engineering and Technology Faculty Research Awards committee seeking funds for the project. The requested grant was awarded. The project was also supported by funds from the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Northrop-Grumman Corporation grant.

 Graduate students under the guidance of Dr. Prasad Shastry designed the anechoic chamber. The details of the design of the chamber are documented in the Phase-I report of the project. The Bradley University maintenance and construction crew built the wooden chamber. Dr. Shastry and, his graduate and senior undergraduate students installed the microwave absorbers in the chamber.

 Dr. Prasad Shastry and Dr. Winfred Anakwa jointly advised a graduate student who designed and developed the antenna data acquisition system for the anechoic chamber. Preliminary characterization of the anechoic chamber was also done by the student. The details of the development of the data acquisition system and the characterization of the anechoic chamber can be found in the student's Master's thesis.

Mr. David Miller, Mechanical Shop, College of Engineering and Technology, assisted in the design and construction of the rotating pedestal for the receiving antenna in the anechoic chamber. The project was educational for the students involved. The people who worked on this project and the funding sources have been acknowledged at the end of this page.

 The anechoic chamber and the antenna data acquisition system is being used for instruction in the Microwave and Wireless Engineering laboratory course and, graduate and senior undergraduate capstone projects. For additional details of the anechoic chamber and the antenna data acquisition system,

Dr.Prasad Shastry may be contacted at: snp@bradley.edu.

 


Anechoic Chamber - Transmitting End

 


Anechoic Chamber - Receiving End



Anechoic Chamber Design

Anechoic Chamber Specifications

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Anechoic Chamber Construction
 

Wooden Box for the Anechoic Chamber

Bradley Construction Crew
Anechoic Chamber with aluminum exterior

Thirendra and Mike Shover at work - 
installing the absorbers

Ali Imran gluing the absorbers

Thirendra cutting the Absorbers

Mike Shover and Thirendra after finishing one wall 

Sunil Modur helping with the construction

Dr. Prasad and Thirendra 

Ali Imran and Thirendra

Dr. Prasad, Sunil Modur and Thirendra 

Construction's Break time

Anechoic Chamber - Transmitting end


Students in RF Lab


Anechoic Chamber - Receiving end


Anechoic Chamber - Transmitting end

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Antenna Data Acquisition System

The data acquisition system consists of the following:

  • Stepper Motor/NuDrive Amplifier: 52X-411
  • Encoder: 500 lines of software
  • Pedestal system (includes an RF rotary coupler)
  • HP Signal Generator: E4433B, 250kHz - 4GHz
  • HP Spectrum Analyzer: 8593E, 9kHz - 22GHz
  • LabView version 5.0: National Instruments
  • Gateway 2000 PC
  • HP Printer: DeskJet 695C

Antenna Data Acquisition Block diagram

Antenna Data Acquisition Flow chart diagram

Pedestal System

Pedestal System


Badria Elnour with Anechoic Chamber's data acquisition


H-plane measurement


E-plane measurement


Horn antenna measurement

H-plane measurement

E-plane measurement

Data Acquisition software main window

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Anechoic Chamber Characterization

Work on the characterization of the anechoic chamber is in progress.  The intent was to measure the capabilities of the anechoic chamber by determining the extent of the quiet zone and other specifications. The radiation characteristics of a horn antenna was measured in the chamber. The radiation pattern predicted by the theory for this antenna was be compared to the measured results.
References:

[1] Report

Anechoic Chamber and Data Aquisition System for the Microwave Engineering Laboratory At Bradley University
Bradley University Project Team:
Project Director                       :  Dr. Prasad Shastry
Graduate Project Assistants   :  Mr. Thirendra Rayamajhi
                                                     Mr. Sunil Modur
                                                     Mr. Mahmoud Basraoui

Phase I Report : System Design

ABSTRACT
    This report presents the design, specifications and cost estimates of an Anechoic Chamber and Data Acquisition System to be built for instructional as well as research purposes in the Microwave / RF Engineering Laboratory at Bradley University. The report covers the system design efforts during Phase I of the project from June 1996 to May 1997.

[2] Thesis

Antenna Data Acquisition System and Anechoic Chamber Characterization
by :   Badria Elnour
Advisor :   Dr. Prasad N.Shastry, Dr. Winfred Anakwa
Summer 2003

ABSTRACT
   The thesis presents the design of an automated system for the measurements of antenna radiation characteristics in an anechoic chamber. The antenna data acquisition system enables one to plot the radiation patterns of an antenna and determine its important parameters. The thesis further addresses the issues of characterization of the anechoic chamber and presents the results of characterization.

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Anechoic Chamber Credits

Anechoic Chamber Design & Construction Credits:

  • Mr. Thirendra Rayamajhi
  • Mr. Mahmoud Basraoui
  • Mr. Sunil Modur
  • Mr. Mike Shover
  • Mr. Ali Imran
  • Mr. David Miller
  • Dr. Prasad Shastry
  • Bradley University Facilities Management
  • R & D Grants: CEGT; ECE; Northrop Grumman Corp.
Antenna Data Aquisition System Credits:
  • Mr. Ali Imran
  • Mr. John He
  • Mr. Mahesh Naidu
  • Mr. Sameer Naik
  • Ms. Badria Elnour
  • Mr. Sasidhar Vajha
  • Mr. David Miller
  • Dr. Prasad Shastry
  • Dr. Winfred Anakwa
  • R & D Grants: ECE; BU Graduate School; Northrop Grumman Corp.
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