European Microwave Signature Laboratory (EMSL)
The European Microwave Signature Laboratory (EMSL) is a state-of-the-art experimental facility which provides unique measurement capabilities in the field of microwave remote sensing. This laboratory has been specifically designed to perform wide-band polarimetric radar measurements both in the scatterometric and imaging mode. Concerning the microwave instrumentation, it is equipped with a stepped frequency radar and three sets of dual-polarized antennas. Presently, the frequency range covered with this hardware goes from 300 MHz to 26.5 GHz. The overall dynamic range is 100 dB. Although designed to serve researchers and users in the field of radar remote sensing, the laboratory has been successfully used in other research fields such as, for example, antenna measurements, non-destructive testing, and detection of buried objects (e.g. landmines).
Exploded View of the EMSL: As shown in the above figure, the EMSL anechoic chamber has a hemispherical shape with a diameter of 20 m. It has two separate TX/RX modules plus a set of 37 fixed receive antennas. Mono and bistatic measurements can be performed with variable incidence and bistatic angles (±115°) for any aspect of the target under test. Multistatic measurements outside the incidence plane can be performed using the receive antennas uniformly distributed on the dome.