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A World-Class Laboratory

Over the years, we have equipped our laboratories with the state-of-the-art apparatuses and facilities worth tens of million dollars through funds from various channels, including the university equipment budget, private donation, industrial sponsorship, and research grant.  These provisions facilitate us to conduct precision antenna appraisals and circuit measurements from the base band to the intermediate frequency, and to the radio frequency/microwave frequency/millimeter-wave frequency up to 110 GHz. 

Here, we are especially proud of the first compact antenna measurement range ever installed in China.  This anechoic chamber makes possible experimental studies of small antennas.  However, it is not big enough to measure a base-station antenna for a mobile phone network because the effective quiet zone is less than a meter in diameter.  Of course, it is not adequate to assess large antennas such as satellite transmitting antennas and phased arrays for radars.  To support further developments of cellular phones and other users of large antennas, we have adopted an alternative approach, namely, the near-field antenna measurement technique.  Today, we are glad that installation of the Near Field Antenna Measurement Chamber was completed in 2004.  It was funded by a $2.5 million Central Allocation Vote in 2000 and a supplementary grant of over $2 million from the Research Center.  It was designed from scratch by our professors and the most advanced materials and equipment from Belgium, Israel, and the United States of America were used.  This supplement enables us to measure a low-profile antenna with a surface area as large as 4.0 m x 2.5 m.  With this addition, we are assured that our laboratory is one of the best equipped in the region, in quantity and in quality.

Besides development of novel technologies for making hi-tech products and design of innovative products for the emergent market, the Research Center is committed to provide our industrial clients a one-stop service, including pre- and post-production engineering tests.   To this end, we have equipped our laboratories with facilities for conducting tests on electromagnetic compatibility, reliability, failure analysis, and other vital-but-often-overlooked studies.  At the end of the day, we need to assure that our outputs are safe, robust, defect-free, and compatible with all legal requirements.

In line with this vision, we have acquired the needed apparatus and wave absorbent materials to convert the roof top just above the Applied Electromagnetic Laboratory into an open field test site for assessing electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic interference of an electrical and electronic device.  Together with the ferrite-lined anechoic chamber acquired in 1994, the Research Center is the only unit among all universities in Hong Kong that is staffed and equipped to carry out EMC/EMI pre-compliance tests.

All in all, our laboratory is recognized by our peers as one of the best equipped in applied electromagnetics in the Asia Pacific region, if not the world.


October, 2005