QuietStar
October 25, 2024

Anechoic Chamber Testing Helps Apple Launch 5G-Ready iPhone 12

Last week, Apple introduced its long-awaited new iPhone 12 at an online virtual launch event. Many of the latest model’s features were expected – an improved camera, a more powerful processor – yet what was less expected was the behind-the-scenes view of one of Apple’s electromagnetic (EMC) anechoic chambers, which the tech giant has been using to test and develop its 5G capabilities.
 
As Apple’s VP of Wireless Software Technologies and Ecosystems, Arun Mathias, explained, Apple have no less than 50 EMC anechoic chambers at its California-based Apple Park. These field-free anechoic test rooms are designed to completely absorb reverberations of electromagnetic waves, so that Apple can at once eliminate any external disturbance that could hinder 5G wireless measurements, and control emissions within the room from 30 MHz to over 100 GHz.
 
The unique conditions of these anechoic chambers enables Apple to “replicate signals from multiple sources and directions,” Mathias continued. This allows them to measure the performance of their 5G communication system, assess the possibility of interference and refine their antennas accordingly for optimum 5G speed on the new iPhone 12. The anechoic chambers provide the perfect testing environment for this kind of wireless functionality, showing Apple what’s achievable under ideal conditions with no reflecting obstacles or interfering external signals.

Testing Smart Speaker Performance With Acoustic Anechoic Testing

But this isn’t the first time Apple has used anechoic testing to refine its tech. During its development, the sound quality of Apple’s high-fidelity HomePod was tested in an acoustic anechoic chamber – a different type of anechoic chamber that’s still designed to be a completely echo-free, field-free chamber, like the ones we design and install here at QuietStar. Using the same principles of total echo/field absorption,we focus on the low to mid frequency ranges rather than the very high frequencies required for EMC/RF chambers, where all six surfaces of an acoustic anechoic chamber are lined with absorbent foam, metal or fibreglass wedges. Rather than allowing sound to bounce around the walls and surfaces of a room like it normally would, the surfaces of an acoustic anechoic chamber completely soak up all sound reflections in all directions, creating an echo-free space.

Acoustic Anechoic Testing That Achieves Superior Audio Performance

Here at QuietStar, our anechoic and hemi-anechoic chambers are designed for exactly this type of intensive acoustic testing, made possible by their echofree properties. Our hemi-anechoic chambers feature the same echo-free construction, only with a normal flat floor to create a testing area of half a sphere, rather than full chamber coverage. Whether anechoic or hemi-anechoic, all of our acoustic testing chambers are designed and constructed through.
 
QuietStar boast experience, ingenuity and dedication across a range of superior architectural acoustics. To find out more about our anechoic test chambers, please get in touch with our friendly team.
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