Stand-alone electric-field probe for measurements within enclosures

Abstract

We propose a stand-alone electric-field probe for realizing electric-field measurements within enclosures that have no slits or holes. The prototype probe has an radio frequency (RF) power detector IC, a programmable IC for storing the electric field measurement data, and a bent monopole antenna printed on a PCB that is mounted in a shielding box. The probe was evaluated using electric fields in the range 10 to 100 V/m. The probe functioned up to 1 GHz. The prototype probe was used to measure the electric field inside an enclosure. There was a good correlation between the normalized electric field strength measured by the prototype probe and measurements by a conventional probe. The maximum error was 8 dB at 0.2 GHz.