An experimental study of the placement an aircraft inside a large welded zinc-plated steel electromagnetic reverberation chamber

The EME inside a large EM reverberation chamber has been characterised, both for an empty chamber, and also with an aircraft-filled chamber. For the empty chamber, the EME appears to be random down to about 40 MHz, which is better than expected. The Q is within a factor 3-10 lower than expected from theory, but this compares favourably with other chambers. For the chamber loaded with an aircraft, the EME appears to be random all the way down to 26 MHz, much better than expected, and surprisingly better than the empty chamber. Conversely, the paddle appears more effective at lower frequencies in the empty chamber. It is not obvious why this should be the case. The Q in the aircraft-filled chamber is in the range 5-10 dB lower, depending on frequency. Since the loading of the chamber by the aircraft is not severe, high field strengths will be achievable for modest power input.