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Testing hardware for ESA’s ground stations in the GSRF requires a ‘clean’ radio-frequency environment. This means creating a 3D space through which no radio signals travel – a major challenge in today’s world.
At ESOC, you’ll find a dizzying array of radio-wave emitters, including lots of computers using Wifi for Internet connectivity, mobile phones from some 850 people working on site and many additional bits and pieces of equipment that emit or leak radio-frequency energy.
Furthermore, the site is surrounded by radio transmitters that people use every day, such as mobile phone bases stations, microwave relay towers and home WiFi routers, and like much of modern Europe, the ESOC facility is bathed in radio, TV and other signals.
The solution was found by using a Faraday cage, basically a metallic box that blocks virtually all ambient electromagnetic energy, including radio frequency waves.
How well does it work?
Inside the GSRF’s Faraday cage, your mobile phone won’t get receive any detectable signal whatsoever – and this is precisely the kind of quiet needed for testing sensitive radio equipment.