Munich, Germany. Rohde & Schwarz announced that it has developed the R&S AREG100A automotive radar echo generator in cooperation with the automotive industry. The instrument is designed specifically for final test and inspection of radar sensors on OEM and Tier 1 production lines.
The company points out that radar sensors are essential components for autonomous driving, and continuous quality control in production is essential to ensure the unrestricted functionality of the sensors. With each stage on the way to fully autonomous driving, the number of radar sensors per vehicle rises significantly. Both OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers need reliable test solutions, suitable for mass production, for the large number of safety-related radar-based driver-assistance systems. The easy-to-operate R&S AREG100A is a customized solution for use at the end of the production line.
The R&S AREG100A automotive radar echo generator reliably tests radar sensors in the 24-GHz ISM band and in the E band at 77 GHz or 79 GHz. It simulates echoes of up to four artificial target objects at fixed distances. User-configurable Doppler offsets can optionally be applied to simulate radial movement of the objects. Customers can specify desired fixed distances at the time of order. The R&S AREG100A is a future-proof solution for testing advanced long-range and short-range radars. It supports bandwidths up to 4 GHz in the E band and can simulate objects at a minimum distance of 4 m if the distance between the frontend and the DUT is 80 cm. With this approach, Rohde & Schwarz offers its customers a degree of test flexibility, from simple to complex.
Due to the dramatic rise in the number of vehicles equipped with radar-based safety-related driver assistance systems, the European regulatory authorities have stipulated mandatory tests in the Radio Equipment Directive (RED) to ensure safe operation and coexistence of automotive radar sensors, particularly with respect to autonomous driving. For easy, convenient and cost-optimized execution of the tests specified in the RED standard ETSI EN 303396, the R&S AREG100A provides calibrated input and output ports in the IF band. The immunity of the sensors to interference signals can be checked with a connected RF signal generator. The occupied bandwidth and spurious emissions can be measured easily and conveniently with a connected signal and spectrum analyzer. And the total radiated power (equivalent isotropic radiated power, EIRP) can be determined precisely using a connected power meter. All that is needed is an RF signal generator up to 6 GHz, a signal and spectrum analyzer, and a power meter with 8-GHz bandwidth, since the millimeter-wave hardware of the frontend can be used with all of these instruments. No additional millimeter-wave test and measurement equipment is needed to carry out the tests. For high reproducibility of the described test solutions, Rohde & Schwarz offers an anechoic test chamber featuring compactness without compromising shielding attenuation.
The R&S AREG100A can be ordered now from Rohde & Schwarz. Purchasers of a new R&S AREG100A benefit from a three-year warranty.