Development of a Vehicle Electromagnetic Test Environment

An EMC/RFI Test Facility has been designed and constructed from a new viewpoint - the integrated concept. The fundamental principal is to define the objective of the facility, and determine, through design and modeling, the most cost-effective arrangement. The building, with its supporting systems, is designed to accomodate the complete facility. The design required several iterations to arrive at the most useful and economical arrangement. The facility described in this paper was designed and constructed in that manner. The elements comprising the facility are: a shielded anechoic chamber, a transverse electromagnetic (TEM) cell, a combined control and RF generator room, and areas for test vehicle preparation. The complete facility will be capable of testing two vehicles, one in the TEM Cell and one in the Shielded Anechoic Chamber. Test frequencies can be 60 Hz to 200 MHz in the TEM Cell and 20 MHz to 40 GHz in the larger anechoic chamber.