Electromagnetic Time-Reversal for reverberation chamber applications using FDTD

Abstract

This paper deals with the use of Time-Reversal (TR) method in electromagnetism and its applications in ElectroMagnetic Compatibility (EMC) in a reverberating environment. The proposed study leans on Mode Stirred Reverberation Chamber (MSRC) of the EMC team, LASMEA (LAboratoire des Sciences et Materiaux pour l'Electronique et d'Automatique, Clermont University), France. Based upon the equivalence between backward propagation and reversibility of the wave equation, many TR experiments were led successfully in acoustics [1]. In this paper, an original way of using TR in electromagnetics is detailed (principally concerning the ability of the technique to focus a signal in time and space). First, the theoretical principles of TR are described and illustrated using Finite Difference in Time Domain (FDTD, [2]) computing of Maxwell's equations. Then, the aim is to accurately describe the influence of various parameters (from FDTD numerical experiments) above focusing. Thus, particular interests rely on the numbers and locations of TR sensors, directivity of source, presence of scatterers, impact of MSRC. Finally, considering characteristics of EMC applications in MSRC, a closer look will be set to the advantages of TR numerical tools for innovating studies in reverberation chambers.