MegiQ has introduced a portable, compact Radiation Measurement System that allows wireless developers to measure (antenna) radiation patterns and the total radiated power of their RF device from 700 MHz to 4 GHz. 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.
The RMS-0740 consists of a turn table and a measurement unit and is optimized for measuring devices without the need for an anechoic chamber. Moderate lab space is required to get accurate 3-axis radiation patterns and TRP calculation. There are many wireless developers who don’t have a $200k+ budget for a conventional radiation test setup. They spend either too much time in range testing or too much money on test lab measurements. This system gives engineers true insight in to RF performance for a fraction of that cost and in just a few minutes. This greatly enhances the performance of the product and the customer satisfaction in the field.
Extensive testing and comparing with measurements from an anechoic test lab shows that the measurement accuracy of this measurement system is similar to those measured in an anechoic chamber.
The application software makes the measurement flow straightforward and includes storage and reporting of the results. Results can be presented in Field Strength, ERP and antenna gain. Total Radiated Power and other statistics are calculated from 3 rotations.
There is a light weight turntable for small products and a heavy duty table for larger devices. Devices can be measured standalone in constant carrier mode, and a separate generator output allows for full characterization and frequency sweep of custom antennas and prototypes. This unit has a dual channel receiver that allows measuring two polarizations in one rotation. This cuts test time in half and a 3-axis measurement takes less than 2 minutes.
An extensive evaluation at the Philips Innovations Services (PINS) anechoic labs has shown that in a normal environment this Radiation Measurement System can produce results that are comparable with anechoic measurements.
