A New Facility for High-Power Microwave Susceptibility Tests
Since its completion in October 2007, the EMVAF has been used to conduct experiments that address the electromagnetic vulnerability requirements of the US Army Weapon and Communication-Electronics Systems. (Click here and here for news stories and photos about EMVAF's opening.) The design project was named one of the top Architect-Engineering firm projects for 2006 by Southwest Contractor magazine.
"The recently established Electro Magnetic Vulnerability Assessment Facility (EMVAF) is a state-of-the-art facility with the goal of evaluating and investigating antenna performance, vehicle effects (jamming and communication), and multipath effects. The facility is impressive, well designed and managed, and well staffed by dedicated and energetic personnel. The management should be commended for conceiving, designing, and developing this facility, which serves many critical missions and needs of the Army. SLAD has increased its ability to maintain a leading edge for this sort of analysis."
-- 2009-2010 Assessment of the Army Research Lab, National Research Council
"[The] Electromagnetic Vulnerability Assessment Facility (EMVAF) [is] used to sustain the Army Research Lab’s ongoing mission to evaluate Army weapon systems’ survivability against the full spectrum of electromagnetic energy threats on the battlefield and in operations other than war (OOTW). This includes the means to determine weapon systems’ survivability against radio-frequency directed energy weapons."
-- US Army White Sands Missile Range website
The EMVAF facility includes a 100 ft x 70 ft x 40 ft (30m x 21m x 12m) shielded anechoic chamber with a turntable capable of supporting 100-ton test vehicles, along with a smaller 20 ft x 30 ft x 20 ft (6m x 9m x 6m) shielded anechoic chamber.
The Howland Company designed the shielded anechoic chambers and control rooms as well as the 100-ton capacity turntable, and developed the procurement specifications for the shielding and anechoic construction. During the construction phase, we advised the general contractor and the Army on issues of construction sequencing; we were also tasked with oversight of the QA program for all shielding and anechoic construction and testing.
The Howland Company also conducted an extensive series of commissioning measurements to characterize the two anechoic chambers. These measurements were made using a Spherical Near-Field Imaging technique. (Technical papers describing the technique and its application are available below.) The Spherical Near-Field Imaging technique affords anechoic chamber designers and users an unprecedented capacity to measure electromagnetic field purity within a specified Quiet Zone volume, and also to identify and mitigate extraneous signals entering the Quiet Zone.
"Anechoic Chamber Performance Characterization Using Spherical Near-Field Imaging Techniques," John C. Mantovani, Carl W. Sirles and Ray Howland, presented at the AMTA Symposium, 17-21 October 2011, in Denver.
"Recent Advances in Anechoic Chamber Characterization Using Spherical Near-Field Imaging," Carl Sirles, John Mantovani, Ray Howland, and Beau Hart, presented at at EuCAP2009, the 3rd European Conference on Antennas and Propagation, 23-27 March 2009, in Berlin.
On the web:
|
