Rician K Factor Tuning for 5G Channel Emulation in Different Typologies of Reverberation Chambers

Reverberation chambers usually exhibit low values of the Rician k factor; this means that the stirred component of the electromagnetic field is dominant with respect to the unstirred one. To increase this parameter in order to emulate propagation environments for 5G telecommunication systems, usually lossy elements are added into the chamber. In this way, the strength of the field inside the cavity decreases and more amplification of the signal is needed. This paper shows how to increase the Rician k factor by selecting a subset of electromagnetic configurations without the insertion of dissipative material. Successful results were obtained using different typologies of stirring techniques, multiple monopole source stirring, rotating paddles mechanical stirring, and oscillating wall stirring.