Comparison of measured and theoretical statistical parameters of complex cavities

Reverberation chambers have grown in popularity for radiated immunity testing. Unlike most other types of immunity tests, a reverberation chamber provides a randomized electromagnetic environment and is a statistical test. In a properly operated reverberation chamber the electromagnetic environment is isotropic and randomly polarized. These characteristics provide a robust, all aspect angle test. A number of the statistical characteristics of the electromagnetic environment in a reverberation chamber can be predicted from theory. This paper compares theoretical and measured values of selected statistical parameters from seven reverberation chambers in the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division Database. Also presented are the same parameters from measurements in five, low quality factor, aircraft cavities