Sub-Band Time Reversal Efficiency Measurement: An Enhanced Method for Efficiency Characterization of UWB Antennas

Antenna efficiency is a critical parameter if one wishes to characterize the performance of an antenna. It is a measure of the radiation quality of an antenna and helps to quantify the transmission quality therefore it is useful to possess the means to verify this quantity. Classical approaches to measure the antenna efficiency, whether in anechoic or reverberation chamber, are quite time consuming. This communication presents a novel method for the measurement of the antenna efficiency in a reverberation chamber. The proposed method uses time reversal coupled with a filtering scheme which guarantees an equal contribution of all (low and high) frequencies in the transmitting signal. The results are compared with other methods of efficiency characterization. The results show little variation with different positions of the stirrer and therefore can be used for making precise measurements of the antenna efficiency in a short duration.