New Anechoic Chamber Makes Room for Larger Vehicle Tests
The Army recently increased its ability to test radio frequencies used by soldier technologies when it opened one of the largest anechoic chambers on the East Coast. The Radio-frequency Electro-Magnetic Compatibility and Antenna Test (REMCAT) laboratory provides additional testing space required for larger and mobile vehicle-mounted projects. This space allows the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) to test vehicles in a wide variety of radio frequency spectrum tests, allowing maximum function while maintaining accurate performance measurement.
The chamber gives CERDEC directorates the space and flexibility to drive in the largest Army ground vehicle with test platforms aboard, then rotate it 360 degrees, all while remaining under testable conditions. CERDEC’s Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate (S&TCD) will use the facility to support other Army and Department of Defense organizations including those located at Aberdeen Proving Ground.
"Once deployed, this will be a game changer for the WIN-T [Warfighter Information Network-Tactical] network," said Gary Martin, program executive officer for Command, Control and Communications. "With the improved performance and highly cost-effective nature of the directional networking antenna and its potential application to WIN-T, it will not only enhance the performance of the Army network, but will also reduce the antenna cost as much as 70 percent."
Coming up with a widely versatile facility was a challenge on a number of different fronts, according to Henry Muller, CERDEC director. "From the beginning, we had planned the space for this specific purpose, so we had to act very precisely to preserve the space for what we ultimately knew we wanted. Many times in our day-to-day activities, we have to write papers to justify what we want to do with a program. In this case, we had to write papers to not do anything, because of our intent for the space and our ultimate goal of using tax dollars responsibly," Muller said. "In the end, we were able to get the best possible test facility, with the least amount of wasted work and energy, using the least amount of money; and once we start sharing the capability with our corporate partners, the return on our investment will increase exponentially."
The first official use of the chamber involved a successful demonstration of the directional networking antenna that S&TCD developed in-house.
Top Stories
INSIDERManned Systems
Turkey's KAAN Combat Aircraft Completes First Flight - Mobility Engineering...
INSIDERMaterials
FAA Expands Boeing 737 Investigation to Manufacturing and Production Lines -...
INSIDERImaging
New Video Card Enables Supersonic Vision System for NASA's X-59 Demonstrator -...
INSIDERManned Systems
Stratolaunch Approaches Hypersonic Speed in First Powered TA-1 Test Flight -...
INSIDERUnmanned Systems
Army Ends Future Attack and Reconnaissance Helicopter Development Program -...
ArticlesEnergy
Can Solid-State Batteries Commercialize by 2030? - Mobility Engineering...
Webcasts
AR/AI
From Data to Decision: How AI Enhances Warfighter Readiness
Energy
April Battery & Electrification Summit
Manufacturing & Prototyping
Tech Update: 3D Printing for Transportation in 2024
Test & Measurement
Building an Automotive EMC Test Plan
Manufacturing & Prototyping
The Moon and Beyond from a Thermal Perspective
Software
Mastering Software Complexity in Automotive: Is Release Possible...