Development of a wireless electric field probe using wireless sensor network for characterization of indoor environments Part 1

• Main Authors: Kunthong, J., Bunting, C.F., Bukkapatnam, S.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Calibration; Detectors; Gain; Probes; Radio frequency; Wireless communication; Wireless sensor networks
• ISSN: 1522-3965; 1947-1491
• DOI: 10.1109/APS.2008.4619140

In this paper we described the design concept, components, and calibration process in reverberation chamber of the wireless sensor network electric field probe. It also focused on the experimental and theoretical development aspects necessary to produce a highly accurate standard probe. The probe system mimics traditional optical fiber lines by incorporating wireless sensor network technology to enable unique features including high sampling acquisition rate, wireless network interconnecting between each node, and long continuous acquisition time. The highly sensitive and wide dynamic range RF detector circuit allows a detection field strength of approximately 0.5 V/m to 1000 V/m and the frequency range from 1 MHz to 10 GHz. By deploying the probe in the field, we hope to gain significant experience with the system's overall accuracy and performance. Since the ETS probe was used as a base line for the wireless probe calibration, the uncertainty of the wireless will be equal or more of that ETS probe. To achieve higher accuracy measurements, a Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) cell is needed to provide known accurate isotropic field uniformity.