Accurate Radiation-Pattern Measurements in a Time-Reversal Electromagnetic Chamber

In a recent paper, we introduced the concept of the time-reversal electromagnetic chamber (TREC), a new facility for creating coherent wavefronts within a reverberation chamber. This facility, based on the use of time-reversal techniques in a reverberating environment, is shown here to also be a useful tool for the characterization of the field radiated by an antenna under test (AUT). The time-reversal electromagnetic chamber has proven to be capable of providing real-time measurements, with accuracy typically better than 1 dB over the main Iobes, while using a limited number of static probe antennas. This performance is made possible by taking advantage of the reflections over the chamber´s walls in order to gain access to the field radiated along all directions, with no need to mechanically displace the probes, or to have a full range of electronically switched probes. A two-dimensional numerical validation supported this approach, proving that the proposed procedure allows the retrieval of the free-space radiation pattern of the AUT.