Employing correlation for wireless components and device characterization in reverberation chambers

Abstract

Reverberation chambers are well-proven test environments for radio frequency (RF) measurements. Typically, mean values are taken from the measurements to characterize the equipment under test. In the novel approach presented in this paper, the correlation of measured sample sequences is utilized to detect deviations, in particular of the radiation characteristics, from reference equipment. This approach is exemplified by a measurement setup using several different antennas with the same housing. The complex correlation coefficient and the correlation coefficient with respect to the transferred power of two measured sample sequences are calculated and evaluated for a suitable frequency range to detect differences between the radiation characteristics.