The Frankonia Reverberation Tent is an alternative Reverberation Chamber solution with the main purpose to transform regular EMC anechoic chambers to be used for reverberation testing methods per IEC 61000-4-21, or on the basis of MIL-STD-461G, DO-160D-20 or ISO 11452-11 with the main purpose to achieve higher field strengths than usually possible in absorber lined shielded enclosures.

Frankonia’s ambitions to provide the latest technologies of scientific approaches led to a mobile setup for our premium customers. The mobile setup allows to upgrade existing EMC anechoic chambers, or to consider it already from the beginning while designing a new test site. The alternative reverberation solution is a kind of tent using a conductive Kevlar stainless steel coated fabric with a thickness of 0,1mm.

Material details:

• Type: TESLA-TS polyester steel fabric aluminum core (Patented)
• Thickness: 0,1 ±0,03 mm with a max. surface resistivity of 0,001 (Ohm/sqm), single or double-layer available
• Shielding effectiveness: 60-75 dB from 30MHz to 1,5GHz, 80-100 dB from 1,5GHz to 10,0GHz per IEEE-299
• Sufficient temperature range: -30°C to +120°C
• Requirements: Absorber-lined EMC anechoic chamber with solid shielding and perfect shielding effectiveness

In recent years, the concept behind this tent has been published under Vibrating Intrinsic Reverberation Chamber (VIRC) with the major benefits of high field strength for immunity tests, an alternative procedure for emission measurements, and the highly mobile solution.

The testing with a reverberation solution is mainly on military components level. Today, we see an upcoming trend for additional requirements in the automotive sector, with a specific requirement to test vehicles and components. Since every vehicle is getting more complex, new technologies on electrification and autonomous driving, but also infrastructural improvements require vehicle manufacturers to test the components level, system level, as of course the overall vehicle on safety and functionality in very critical conditions. Therefore, components and vehicles are subject of testing under higher field strengths, as an additional test to the regulative testing’s standards.

Features:

• Easy and fast setup in existing EMC anechoic chambers
• Hanged on the ceiling or installed using a self-supporting framework
• Comparable results with solid reverberation chambers
• Useful for automotive safety and functionality tests under higher field strengths
• Convenient solution at a low investment

Scientific and pre-existing definitions and calculations for regular solid reverberation chambers are the fundamentals on the definition and design of the alternative reverberation tent, e.g. minimum distances, lowest usable frequency, or the max. test volume. The IEC 61000-4-21 or MIL-STD-461 standards acts as a guideline for verification, since a specific verification standard is inexistent.