A Simplified Two-Antenna Method for Characterizing the Shielding Effectiveness of Physically Small Enclosures

Evaluating the shielding effectiveness of physically small enclosures presents a critical challenge in electromagnetic compatibility. IEEE Standard 299.1 outlines a reverberation chamber method, which in practice is often implemented with a vector network analyzer and calibrated antennas with known efficiency. This letter investigates a simplified two-antenna method in a reverberation chamber that eliminates the need for antenna efficiency characterization and allows flexible instrumentation, such as using a signal generator and receiver instead of a VNA. For comparison purposes, a VNA is employed in this study. Measurement results under four shielding conditions using a straight monopole antenna confirm that the proposed method achieves comparable SE performance to the standardized method, with reduced setup complexity, making it suitable for generic EMC laboratories with limited resources.