MPSW 5013 RESEARCH METHOD (Pollock Model)

NAME: ADIBAH BINTI AZMAN

MATRIC NUMBER : M021410020

CONCEPT:
An anechoic chamber is an RF test facility which utilizes a lining of radar absorbing
material (RAM) along its wall, ceiling and floor to create an electromagnetically quiet
environment. Shielded anechoic chambers are widely used to provide RF isolated test regions
to simulate free-space test environment especially for antenna measurement. The pyramidal
microwave absorber is one of the main components in the radio frequency (RF) anechoic
chamber which is critical in eliminating unwanted reflected signal. Currently, almost all of
microwave range absorbers seen in the anechoic chamber are made of carbon impregnating
polyurethane foam or polystyrene with carbon. In the market, the reflection loss of the
absorber is recorded in between - 40 dB to 50 dB depends on the absorber material.
However, there is a room for improvement of the reflection loss performance by
incorporating the artificial material into the pyramidal microwave absorber. Split ring
resonator (SRR) is one of the techniques to produce an artificial material (metamaterial) that
does not exist in the real nature. SRR structure can potentially be incorporated onto the RF
devices and application such as antenna, microwave filter, frequency selective surface and
microwave absorber that can improve the reflection loss performance to the required level.
The main work is to characterize of new SRR metamaterial structure, permittivity and
permeability of SRR metamaterial pyramidal microwave absorber, SRR pyramidal
microwave absorber and SRR pyramidal microwave absorber performance evaluation. At the
end, the return loss of the pyramidal microwave absorber can be improved by using SRR
technique. Thus, the accuracy of the RF test facilities also will improve.

CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION:

Good electromagnetic absorbing materials are very important to ensure the best performance
of an RF anechoic chamber. This microwave absorber is installed in an anechoic chamber to
eliminate the unwanted reflected electromagnetic signal. It can reduce the affected anechoic
chamber reflection to a manageable level. There are many ways to increase the pyramidal
microwave absorber performance such as using the material with high density carbon, using
the new hybrid pyramidal shape and making an array pyramidal microwave absorber.

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 MPSW 5013 RESEARCH METHOD (Pollock Model)

Metamaterial is an artificial material that does not exist in nature. Metamaterial has
categorized structure or design that has simultaneous negative permeability and permittivity.
Split ring resonator (one of metamaterial structure types) is used to increase the microwave
absorber performance.
There are many applications that use SRR design such as the design of metamaterial
antennas, mixers, filters and oscillators. SRR has the potential to reduce the size of the
metamaterial [1]. Figure 2 shows the different types of SRR. Edge-coupled SRR (EC-SRR)
was initially designed by Pendry in [2] and Smith et al. [3]. The SRR unit cell can be
transformed by an equivalent circuit using capacitor and inductor element [4]. In this case the
gap between the rings can be shown by a capacitor while the long strip can be represented by
an inductor. Figure 3 shows the double rings of SRR and single ring of SRR with its
equivalent circuit.
Nicolson-Ross-Weir (NRW) algorithm had been used to extract the permittivity and
permeability value from S Parameter data (Reflection coefficient, S11 and Transmission
coefficient S21) [5]. In the NRW algorithm, the reflection and transmission were expressed by
the scattering parameters S11 and S21. The Radar Cross Section (RCS) method is used to
determine and evaluate the reflection loss performance of the fabricated SRR pyramidal
microwave absorbers. In [6] our previous work, the principal concept of SRR unit is placed
on top of the truncated pyramid microwave absorber has been presented. The waveguide port
is located at 30 cm away from the base of microwave absorber.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION:

Step 1: New SRR pyramidal microwave absorber proposed technique

a. Propose new approach on integration SRR on the pyramidal microwave absorber.
The SRR will place on the top of the pyramidal microwave absorber.

Step 2: Analyze the S-parameter of new metamaterial structure based on split ring
resonators
a. Analysis the characteristic of new metamaterial structure (SRR) - New structure
of SRR will be modeled based on 3D electromagnetic structure to perform as
metamaterial properties S-parameter (Reflection coefficient, S11 and

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 MPSW 5013 RESEARCH METHOD (Pollock Model)

Transmission coefficient, S21) for SRR using two waveguide port technique will
be performed in CST
b. Retrieved negative medium properties of metamaterial - The negative medium
properties (permittivity and permeability) of metamaterial will be formulated by
using Nicolson-Ross-Weir algorithm and S-Parameter. Then, the new
metamaterial based on SRR structure will be analyzed and characterized by using
negative medium properties.

Step 3: Evaluation of reflection loss performance on new metamaterial based on split

ring resonator
a. Single unit of SRR metamaterial - The single unit of SRR metamaterial will be
measured in the laboratory using etching techniques on different material (FR-4,
Roger 5880, Taconic TLX-9)
b. S-Parameter measurement of SRR metamaterial - The S-parameter (Reflection
coefficient, S11 and Transmission coefficient, S21) of the SRR metamaterial will
be measured by using the radar cross section (RCS) technique. This technique
will use equipment such as Agilent Technologies 85070 measurement software,
coaxial cable, and Agilent network analyzer. The reflection loss performance of
the SRR metamaterial will be evaluated by using S-parameter measurement
result.

Step 4: Evaluation on reflection loss performance of pyramidal microwave absorber

with SRR metamaterial

a. Analysis the characteristic of SRR pyramidal microwave absorber - The new

SRR metamaterial structure will be combined onto the pyramidal microwave
absorber by using 3D electromagnetic model. Then, the characteristic of SRR
pyramidal microwave absorber will be analyzed by using S-parameter.
b. Pyramidal microwave absorber - 150g polystyrene polymer (in liquid) will mix
with the polyesterresin (10% of polystyrene) and Methyl Ethyl Ketone Peroxide
as hardener agent (2% from resin). The pyramidal microwave absorber will be
created using molds technique and hand press technique. This technique will use
equipment such as pyramidal shaped mold and hand press machine.

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 MPSW 5013 RESEARCH METHOD (Pollock Model)

c. SRR pyramidal microwave absorber measurement - The S-parameter (Reflection

coefficient, S11 and Transmission coefficient, S21) of SRR pyramidal microwave
absorber will be measured using the radar cross section (RCS) technique. This
technique will use equipment such as of a pair of horn antennas (for transmit and
receive), coaxial cable, signal generator, spectrum analyzer, reference metal,
plywood board and the pyramidal microwave absorbers.
d. Evaluation on the SRR pyramidal microwave absorber performance - The
reflection loss of SRR pyramidal microwave absorber will be analyzed by using
S-parameter measurement result. Then, the performance of SRR pyramidal
microwave absorber will be evaluated and compare

VARIABLE:

Variable: The S-parameter (Reflection coefficient, S11 and Transmission coefficient, S21)

Attributes: fail- low - satisfactory - high excellent

Values:
variable Reflection coefficient S11(dB)
Fail > -10dB
Low -20 dB to -29 dB
Satisfactory -30dB
High -30 dB to -80dB
Excellent < -80dB

Relationship: The reflection loss of SRR pyramidal microwave absorber will be analyzed by
using S-parameter measurement result. Then, the performance of SRR pyramidal microwave
absorber will be evaluated and compare.

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 MPSW 5013 RESEARCH METHOD (Pollock Model)

Reference:

[1] Nornikman, H., F. Malek, P. J. Soh, A. A. H. Azremi, F. H. Wee, A. Hasnain, Parametric

study of pyramidal microwave absorber using rice husks," Progress In Electromagnetics
Research, Vol. 104, 145-166, 2010.
[2] Malek, F., E. M. Cheng, O. Nadiah, H. Nornikman, M. Ahmed, M. Z. A. Abd Aziz, A. R.
Osman, P. J. Soh, A. A. H. Azremi, A. Hasnain, and M. N. Taib, Rubber tire dust-rice husk
pyramidal microwave absorber," Progress In Electromagnetics Research, Vol. 117, 449{447,
2011.
[3] Ibrahim, I. M., N. M. Yaakob, M. N. Husain, S. M. Se, and A. Shaaban, The effect of the
carbon on the S11 measurement on the pyramidal microwave absorbers," 2011 IEEE
Symposium on Wireless Technology and Applications (ISWTA), 141-145, 2.
[4] Baena, J.D., Bonache, J., Martin, F., Sillero, R.M., Falcone, F., Lopetegi, T., Laso,
M.A.G., Garcia-Garcia, J., Gil, I., Portillo, M.F., Sorolla, M., Equivalent-Circuit Models for
Split-Ring Resonators and Complementary split-ring Resonators Coupled to Planar
Transmission Lines, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vo. 53, Issue
4, Part 2, pp. 1451 - 1461, 2005
[5] S. Suganthi, S. Raghavan, D. Kumar, and S. HosiminThilagar, A Compact Hilbert Curve
Fractal Antenna on Metamaterial Using CSRR, PIERS Proceedings, pp. 136 - 140, 2012
[6] Garcia-Garcia, J., F. Aznar, M. Gil, J. Bonache, and F. Martin, Size Reduction of SRRs
for Metamaterial and Left Handes Media Design, PIERS Online, Vol 3, No. 3, pg 266, 2007

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