Seeking Guidance on High Power Test Operating Procedure in an Anechoic Chamber

Question

I am in the process of developing a comprehensive operating procedure for conducting high-power tests in an anechoic chamber. This procedure will encompass various aspects, including the analysis and configuration of the High Power Wall, the setup and operation of the Infrared (IR) monitor, and the integration of a hypoxic system. Additionally, this procedure will be applied to perform auto-compatibility tests on a specific device. 
 I'm seeking guidance, insights, and references from the community regarding best practices, safety considerations, and any relevant standards or guidelines that should be taken into account when creating such a procedure. Your expertise and recommendations would be greatly appreciated as I work to ensure a robust and safe testing process in the anechoic chamber. 
 Thank you in advance for your valuable input.

mapj1 · Answer

I presume you are familiar with ICNIRP? If not look here 
 If the door is shut then confined working may also apply https://www.hse.gov.uk/confinedspace/legislation.htm 
 I would suggest to your "customers responsible for the satellite will be present" 
 At the risk of pantomime, 
 "Oh not they won't, " once you get above these levels... The six minutes relates to the thermal stabilisation time of an adult human - so averaged over 6 mins you can hit ten times these levels at a ten % transmission duty cycle, , though actually I'd want to see a damn good justification of being that close to the limit if it was my chamber... The trough from the low tens of MHz to a few hundreds of MHz relates to typical body parts being a resonant fraction of a wavelength ' we become 'good antennas' at these frequencies, rather less so above and below, so a higher level can be tolerated without damage risk. 
 For old folk and young kids, whose thermal management may be compromised, the 'general' safe levels are a bit lower than these occupational ones. Is the thermal imaging passive on body heat, and / or are you also adding artificial sun light to emulate worst case solar load ? 
 Significant extra heat and light on the users will limit the time they can be there, possibly quite dramatically. If not I'd not worry first about hypoxia, I'd worry about cooking them with RF.. (or is there a problem with ventilation as well ?) Equally my personal bias is towards stuff I have worked on - which is not quite this. 
 It is quite common to have folk in fields of say 200, even 500 V/m during tests, even at 100MHz, but to organise the tests to short bursts of full power and then change to a test that does not need it, so there is time to cool off, or or cycle the personnel, so that no one person is there for too long. 
 Mike. 
 Mike.

Seeking Guidance on High Power Test Operating Procedure in an Anechoic Chamber

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