Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Testing 5G Technologies in a Lightweight, Soft Wall, RF Shielded Environment

Overcoming Space and Budget Constraints: With the intense development in High Tech communications, companies working on the next big system to provide high speed access for an unbelievable range of products find budgets and space availability sparse. 5G testing and development projects need a reliable, affordable and temporary solution to provide a secure RF free environment that dampens internal reflections of highly engineered signals operating at frequencies ranging from 3 to 39 GHz. Select Fabricators’ RF shielded tent systems can be setup in a few hours and are ready to use. A double layer system has been tested to yield an average -87dB RF shielding effectiveness from 3 to 40 GHz. Typical isolation varies from -90dB to -100dB at current 5G test frequencies of 3.5, 15, and 28 GHz. High attenuation NovaSelect™ Silver/Copper/Nickel plated nylon fabric is constructed into lightweight, easy setup enclosures, an alternative to heavy hard wall RF enclosures that take days of planning and construction and are difficult to store.

Reliable Testing: To enable reliable testing of advanced MIMO technology in the millimeter wave band, line the internal cavity of the enclosure with RF absorbent foam panels and include power and data communications filters that work at higher frequencies. Select Fabricators chose 4” thick pyramidal carbon loaded foam panels that provide -30dB reflective attenuation at 3 GHz, and -50dB reflective attenuation at 15 to 30 GHz. The panels are typically hung from an internal frame away from the conductive fabric. This spacing helps to attenuate the RF reflections at a slightly higher level than if the panels are placed directly on the metalized fabric which helps to provide a quieter environment. Fiber based communications systems for USB 3.0 and Multi-Gigabit Ethernet and high performance power filters are tested to provide -100 dB shielding effectiveness as high as 40 GHz.
The soft wall RF shielded enclosure is ready for upgrades making it a true adaptable system for the next requirement on an industry wide specification. Select Fabricators' soft wall RF enclosures can help in testing products from the smallest IoT devices to the largest autonomous vehicles under development while maintaining a high level of performance.

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