Spatial Autocovariances of Scattering Parameters Measured in a Lossy Reverberation Chamber

We derive a statistical model for the spatial autocovariance of two-port scattering parameters measured in a high-loss reverberation chamber for single-mode antennas. The theoretical model accounts for first-order antenna–antenna and antenna–environment interactions arising from scattering off the measurement antennas. The model is shown to provide a good description of the empirical spatial autocovariances calculated from measurements of scattering parameters in a reverberation chamber for different loading configurations. This provides new insight into the complex antenna–antenna and antenna–environment interactions that occur in reverberation chamber measurements. Additional applications include reducing the correlation between reverberation chamber measurements obtained with position stirring and measuring the orientation-averaged total scattering cross section of arbitrary structures.