Switchable metasurface absorber used for enabling reconfigurable power angular spectrum in reverberation chamber

Abstract The reverberation chamber (RC) provides a fast and repeatable method for over-the-air (OTA) testing of wireless devices. Moreover, the RC-based method can reduce the OTA testing cost to a great extent. But the defect of the RC is also obvious. Compared to a multi-probe anechoic chamber, the channel spatial characteristics in RC are uncontrollable. The device under test in an RC usually sees a statistically isotropic channel and there is a strong impediment to control the channel in RC, which constrains the RC’s OTA applications. In this paper, we propose a method to realize reconfigurable RC enabling arbitrary channel power angular spectrum (PAS) by using a switchable metasurface absorber. Specifically, the unit cell of the metasurface can be switched between the reflection and absorption states by providing different bias voltages. By mounting the switchable metasurface absorber on the RC’s inside walls, the boundary conditions of the RC in the covered area could be switched electronically. Consequently, the channel’s PAS can be controlled by changing the local states of the switchable metasurface absorber. As a proof of concept, a prototype of the switchable metasurface absorber is made and comprehensive experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the switchable metasurface applied to enable reconfigurable PAS in RC.