U of A
 

 


LAB CONTACT INFO

 Electrical & Computer
 Engineering Research
 Facility (ECERF)

 W3-060, 3rd Floor
 9107 116 St NW
 Edmonton, Alberta
 Canada T6G 2V4

 E-mail Prof. Iyer


  QUICK LINKS

  Anechoic Chamber

  Near-Field Scanner

  Waveguide Probes

  Network Analyzer

  PCB Prototyping

  Workstations/Servers

  Visit us at ECERF

  Contact Prof. Iyer

 

  FUNDING AGENCIES


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 CURRENT & PREVIOUS

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Iyer Research Group

 

Click here to read a feature profile of our experimental facilities at the University of Alberta electromagnetics group.

 

ECERFThe University of Alberta electromagnetics group is rapidly expanding its RF/microwave/millimetre-wave and antenna-characterization capabilities by way of several recent large-equipment grants totalling nearly three million dollars. Located on the third floor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Research Facility (ECERF) at the University's North Campus, our laboratory is home to a wide range of microwave and millimetre-wave test equipment, including a 110GHz VNA and probe station for millimetre-wave measurements, an RF-to-millimetre-wave near-field antenna measurement system, mechanical milling-based, laser-based, and conductive-ink-based rapid PCB protyping systems, and several workstations and compute servers. These are described below.

Near-Field Antenna & Metamaterial Characterization Facility

Our one-of-a-kind, fully-equipped near-field antenna- and metamaterial-characterization facility is built around a state-of-the-art near-field scanner. Near-field scanners are an effective alternative to conventional far-field antenna measurement. These systems acquire raw amplitude and phase information in the near field as a means to obtain the corresponding far-field radiation patterns through software-enabled Fourier-transform techniques. They can be configured for rectangular/planar, cylindrical, and spherical measurement plans, and are far more compact than similarly equipped far-field ranges. The components of this system are detailed below. For further information on our experimental capabilities or equipment-usage requests, please contact me.


Anechoic Chamber

  • Shielded fully anechoic chamber
  • Designed by ETS-Lindgren
  • 16'×12'×11' (L×W×H)
  • 18-inch flexible pyramidal-cone
    absorbers
  • 900MHz to 40GHz operating range
  • 3'×7' shielded door
  • Request to use equipment

Anechoic chamber


Shielded Antenna Chamber


Near-Field Scanner

  • Fully automated multi-axis near-field scanner up to 40GHz
  • Designed by Nearfield Systems
  • 5'×5' planar (XY-) scanning range
  • 5'×360° cylindrical scanning range
  • 180°×360° spherical scanning range
  • Wall-mounted pol-stage for low-frequency spherical near-field testing
  • Z-translation:
    • 5' + additional 10" on AUT side
    • 4" on probe side
  • 360° probe rotation around Z
  • Fully customizable fixtures on AUT side
  • 8-axis antenna range controllers
  • Wired remote control
  • Fully programmable/scriptable software GUI control of RF equipment, positioners, and processing functions
  • Request to use equipment

Near-field scanner


Chamber Interior and Near-Field Scanner


Waveguide Probes

  • Waveguide probes and assemblies from 0.7GHz to 40GHz:
    • 0.7-10GHz (ridged horn)
    • 1.12-1.7GHz (WR-650)
    • 1.7-2.6GHz (WR-430)
    • 2.6-3.95GHz (WR-284)
    • 3.95-5.85GHz (WR-187)
    • 5.85-8.2GHz (WR-137)
    • 8.2-12.4GHz (WR-90)
    • 12.4-18GHz (WR-62)
    • 18-26.5GHz (WR-42)
    • 26.5-40GHz (WR-28)
  • Standard-gain horns:
    • 2.2-3.3GHz (WR-340, 1×15dB horn)
    • 2.6-3.35GHz (WR-284, 1×15dB horn)
    • 3.95-5.85GHz (WR-187, 2×15dB horns)
    • 5.85-8.2GHz (WR-137, 1×15dB horns)
    • 8.2-12.4GHz (WR-90, 1×15dB horns)
    • 12.4-18GHz (WR-62, 1×25dB horn + 1×24dB horn)
    • 18-26.5GHz (WR-42, 1×15dB horn)
    • 26.5-40GHz (WR-28, 1×15dB horn)
  • Selection of calibrated standard-gain horns available
  • Lenses for quasi-optical measurements and free-space material characterization
  • Assortment of stands, brackets, and clamps
  • Request to use equipment

Waveguide probes


Spectrum of Near-Field Probes [Nearfield Systems]


Network Analyzer

  • Keysight Technologies N5244A PNA-X Vector Network Analyzer
  • 2-port measurements from 10MHz to 43.5GHz
  • 126dB system with 129dB receiver dynamic range
  • 32001 points, 32 channels, and 5MHz IF bandwidth
  • Up to 13dBm output power (<0.1dB compression), 40dB power sweep range, harmonics below -60dBc
  • Noise floor below -110dBm at 10Hz IF bandwidth
  • Flexible 2.4mm test cable set
  • Mechanical 2.4mm calibration kit up to 50GHz
  • 10MHz-50GHz Keysight power limiters
  • Configured for antenna-chamber and benchtop measurements
  • Request to use equipment

Network Analyzer


43.5GHz Keysight PNA-X [Keysight Technologies]


Laser- and Mechanical Milling-Based Rapid PCB Protyping

  • LPKF ProtoLaser u3 + ProtoMat S62
  • UV-laser etching and mechanical drilling/routing/cutting/surface milling
  • Laser: 355nm (UV) 6W, max. 15um diameter (focused), 2um resolution, 2um repeatability
  • Mechanical: max. 62,000rpm, hole drilling at 150 holes/min.
  • 9"×12"×0.4" laser (1.5" mechanical) work area
  • Fiducial alignment cameras on both systems for double-sided PCBs
  • LPKF CircuitPro and CircuitCAM software
  • Request to use equipment

LPKF ProtoLaser U3


LPKF ProtoLaser U3 [LPKF]


Workstations and Servers

  • Dell PowerEdge R920 Server
    • 4×Intel Xeon Processor E7-8893 v2 (Six Core HT, 3.4 GHz Turbo, 37.5MB)
    • 1024GB (16x64GB) 1600MHz DDR3 ECC RDIMM
    • 5×2TB 2.5 inch SATA SSDs
    • PERC H730P 2GB NV cache controller
    • IDRAC7 express
    • Redundant 1100W power supplies
    • Redhat Linux
  • Dell Precision T7610 Workstation
    • Dual Intel Xeon Processor E5-2697 v2 (Twelve Core HT, 2.7 GHz Turbo, 30MB)
    • 512GB (16x32GB) 1866MHz DDR3 ECC LRDIMM
    • 512GB 2.5 inch SATA SSDs
    • 9TB (3x3TB) HDD, 6GB/s SATA/SAS controller with SW Raid
    • 1 GB AMD FirePro V4900
    • 1300W chassis with 2nd heat sink
    • Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
  • Request to use equipment

Dell Precision T7610 Workstation


T7610 Workstation [Dell]


 

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