Recent developments relevant to implementation of a hybrid TEM cell/reverberation chamber HIRF test facility

A hybrid TEM cell/reverberation chamber has been proposed as a high intensity radiated fields (HIRF) test facility for aircraft. The concept would provide a linearly polarized, plane wave electromagnetic test environment over the TEM frequency region. Over the reverberation chamber operating range the electromagnetic test environment would be isotropic and randomly polarized. The frequency interval between the TEM cell and the reverberation ranges is a transition region. The frequency region covered by the hybrid concept would be 10 kHz to 18 GHz. TEM cells and reverberation chambers provided different but well characterized test environments over their normal operating ranges. However the transition region environment is not well characterized and available data implies large uncertainties. This paper considers one of several approaches for dealing with the transition region. The feasibility of the hybrid concept has been demonstrated in a small facility. The scaleability of TEM cells, reverberation chambers, and the hybrid concept for an aircraft sized facility is a concern. The paper provides scaleability data on reverberation chambers. The paper also discusses the status of R&D efforts on some of the remaining hybrid concept issues.