Metrological traceability of the results of testing for electromagnetic compatibility in accordance with the NATO standards

Abstract

Ensuring the electromagnetic compatibility of special-purpose equipment used in a complex saturated radio frequency environment requires testing in accordance with procedures that guarantee a valid verification of its immunity to external electromagnetic fields. The paper presents the national measurement standards and equipment used at the National Scientific Centre “Institute of Metrology” for the NRE02, NRE03 and NRS02 testing in accordance with the AESTR-500 standard. It is shown how metrological traceability to the SI units of the measurement results is ensured during tests. The paper presents the results of evaluating the uncertainty of the results of measurements of the electromagnetic field strength using the NARDA-550 meter for the frequency ranges of 10 kHz – 1 GHz when using the GTEM chamber, and for the frequency ranges of 1-43 GHz when using the anechoic chamber. The studies have proven that the measurement uncertainties, when calibrating the antenna in the anechoic chamber, and the uneven distribution of the electromagnetic field in the GTEM chamber are the most critical. The obtained results of the uncertainty evaluation of the NARDA-550 calibration coefficient are used for high-precision measurements of radio frequency signals both at emission and being exposed to electromagnetic fields when the disturbances have limit values as regards the provisions of these standards. These results with a discrepancy of no more than 0.05 dB confirm the characteristics of the device provided by the manufacturer. It is shown that the set of national measurement standards and test equipment of the NSC “Institute of Metrology” allows testing special equipment for electromagnetic compatibility according to the NATO standards with the required accuracy.