Free space performance tested with the MegiQ
Testing in an anechoic chamber
As a starting point to designing in an antenna for an application you should start with its performance in an environment without obstructions, in free space. The standard way of doing this is to use an anechoic chamber. The chamber must be of sufficient size such that the transmit and receive points are several wavelengths distance apart, and also the interior of the chamber should be filled with shapes that absorb rf and reflect at random angles, the familiar foam pyramids, to eliminate any influence caused by the walls of the chamber.
A cost effective alternative.
A chamber can be expensive to own and can take up a lot of space. It can also be costly to rent one. In a majority of cases you can use test equipment that delivers results that are closely matched to those from a chamber at a fraction of the cost, one example is the MegiQ.
Such anechoic test chambers can be large and expensive either to own or to rent, and in many cases it is possible to use simple test equipment such as the that from MegiQ in order to obtain results close to those which would be achieved at much higher cost in a chamber.
Measurements are taken in 3 axes to model the antenna’s performance.

Measure transmit or receive
The principle of reciprocity means that the receive and transmit performance of an antenna are the same. Therefore, it is only necessary to measure one or the other to have a complete picture of the antenna’s performance. Measurements are made on a choice of antenna transmit or receive from a known calibrated source.
Trust the experts. How Crout can help
The Crout team has extensive experience in the tuning of antennas in real-life application situations, typically delivery several dBm of improved performance that leads to lower in-field costs through greater transmission range and longer battery life.
The team offer a range of services to help you get the best possible performance from an antenna, contact us today find out how we can help.