A dedicated technique to measure shielding effectiveness of textiles using a two-horn antenna set-up

In response to the concern about growing electromagnetic radiation levels, special clothes, bedcovers, and curtains made from shielding textiles are already available. In some cases claimed shielding properties are incredibly high. The goal of this paper is to introduce a simple measurement method dedicated to textiles. A free space two-horn set-up in combination with a post-processing technique is used to determine shielding effectiveness. At higher frequencies, a simple wireless link with two horn antennas can be used. This type of measurement tends to show high oscillations, especially when the samples are in the order of a wavelength or smaller. This is due to multiple reflections and diffractions. These oscillations can be smoothened using fitting techniques or a post-processing procedure based on a simulated Gaussian pulse in time domain. The proposed procedures are tested for different textile topologies in the frequency range 1-5 GHz.