August 18, 2020
One of the most important properties of a wireless device is how much it actually radiates, how efficient is the antenna.This is typically measured in an anechoic chamber (at an expensive test lab). Another, time-consuming and inaccurate, method is by walking around in a free field and test the communication distance.
MegiQ has created a turnkey Radiation Measurement System (RMS) that will measure radiation patterns and Total Radiated Power (TRP) from a 3-axis rotation without the need for an anechoic chamber. By using a smart antenna design and choosing the proper measurement setup the RMS can measure quite accurately in relatively small lab or office spaces.
This is an invaluable help during design and optimization of a wireless device. Since there is no need to go to an anechoic lab you can have a quick turnaround of the measurement and an efficent optimization of the device. This greatly improves the quality of the design and the confidence in the performance.
The RMS consists of a measurement antenna, measurement receiver and a turntable. The application software controls the system and measures the radiated power during three rotations, one around each of the X, Y and Z axes. With the dual-polarization measurement antenna it only needs one rotation per axis. A full semi-3D pattern measurement can be done in a few minutes.
Read a Review of the RMS system in Microwaves and RF magazine.
These RMS models cover many popular microwave communication bands:
An extensive evaluation at the Philips Innovations Services (PINS) anechoic labs has shown that in a normal environment the RMS can produce results that are comparable with anechoic measurements.
