Experimental Characterization of the Propagation Channel along a Very Large Virtual Array in a Reverberation Chamber

We show that the combined use of radio frequency absorbers and directive antennas can produce significant changes of the radio propagation channel properties along the positions of a virtual array inside a reverberation chamber. A multidimensional characterization of the channel was performed at 40 antenna positions with spacing of 0.233λ at 1 GHz. The average power, the Ricean K-factor, the coherence bandwidth, the r.m.s. delay spread, the mean delay, the beamforming power angle spectrum and array antenna correlation have been studied for different arrangements in the reverberation chamber. The analysis shows that the joint average over time and frequency channel behavior is, as expected, rather homogeneous along the very large array. However, individual realizations of the channel present a pronounced selective behavior in space, time and frequency with parameters varying along the positions of the virtual array suggesting that a heterogeneous behavior of the radio channels can be emulated in reverberation chambers. An important application of the presented study comprises testing of antenna array designs and algorithms in multipath environments. Further development may lead to Over The Air testing of Multiple Input Multiple Output antenna systems of various sizes, i.e., from small to very large arrays.