Rohde & Schwarz Enhances its Automotive Radome Tester

The R&S QAR is a mmWave imaging device for challenging testing and validation of radome and bumper material.

FREMONT, CA: Rohde & Schwarz, a leading provider of solutions in the areas of test and evaluation, broadcast and media, defense, aerospace, security and networks and cyber security has improved its R&S QAR efficiency automotive radome tester, a personalized solution for radar integration testing to assess and measure the radar compatibility of radome and bumpers. With the latest R&S QAR-K50 Single-Cluster Measurement Program, OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers can obtain measurement results very similar to those achieved with a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) and a Quasi-Optical (QO) configuration, but in a non-destructive and 2-dimensional fashion. Besides, consumers benefit from an intuitive QAR R&S operating concept.

The R&S QAR is a mmWave imaging device for challenging testing and validation of radome and bumper material. Thanks to its outstanding performance, speed, efficiency, and intuitive function, it is ideal for applications spanning from development and production to radome material verification and integration of 76 GHz to 81 GHz radars.

High spatial precision comes at the expense of a wider spread in terms of incident angles. A common radar sensor has a certain field of vision, for example, +/-10° for full range (FRR) and +/-60° for short-range radars (SRR). Derived from material characterization techniques, the reflecting parameters of radomes are specified explicitly for perpendicular incident angles, as these parameters can be calculated using VNAs. The R&S QAR-K50 software option addresses this topic.

This is where the QAR-K50 R&S software alternative comes into play. It immediately detects the highest reflection in the material's sample and the averages over the test area. The mean value for the reflection area shall be calculated and displayed to the consumer as the calculation product within less than 7 seconds. This value is very well suited to the effects of the S11 and S22 VNA reflection measurements.

Measurements made with VNA and QO settings during R&D can now be specifically compared to the R&S QAR measurements. Still using microwave imagery, but with a reduced antenna opening, the setup makes it less susceptible to positioning errors and more suited for manufacturing conditions than VNA setups.

The R&S QAR-K50 device senses the proper region of measurement on its own and gives optical input to the user if the location of the samples is marginally out of tolerance. The R&S QAR now integrates its high-resolution image used for homogeneity analysis (QAR-K10 R&S software) with a stable and easy-to-use reflection calculation. The calculation values obtained with the R&S QAR-K50 software alternative is directly comparable to the results of the VNAs in the QO settings.