A Prefabricated Programmable Metasurface Reverberation Chamber

Abstract

In situ electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing is essential for evaluating large, complex, and immobile systems, yet conventional reverberation chambers face significant challenges due to fixed-location constraints. This article presents a prefabricated programmable metasurface reverberation chamber that combines a transportable conductive-fabric enclosure with a programmable Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phase metasurface stirrer. The core innovation lies in a PB phase metasurface stirrer comprising an array of independently rotatable meta-atoms, each actuated by dedicated microstepper motors to switch between binary orientational states ($0^\circ /90^\circ $), thereby generating diverse geometric phase distributions. Experimental validation of a 1.8 m × 0.8 m × 0.8 m prototype operating from 0.5 to 18 GHz demonstrates the field uniformity satisfying IEC 61000-4-21 requirements, with a lowest usable frequency of 0.8 GHz and high quality-factor throughout the frequency range. This work provides a portable, rapidly deployable platform with controllable and reproducible solutions for in situ EMC testing.