Ability of Anritsu Millimeter Waveguide VNA System to make accurate RCS measurements in E-Band demonstrated by Institute of High Frequency Technology at RWTH Aachen

10/14/2013

The Institute of High Frequency Technology (IHF) at RWTH Aachen integrated Anritsu measurement equipment into the RCS measurement setup of their compact range and succeeded in measuring the radar cross section of a reference target at 77 GHz for Continental, Business Unit ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems).

For their setup, the Anritsu MS4647A VectorStar together with the Anritsu 3739A Broadband Millimeter-Wave Test Set was used. The Millimeter-Wave modules were equipped with pyramidal E-Band horn antennas and installed at the feed mount of the compact antenna test range. A maximum measurement error for RCS measurements of approx. 0.3 dB could be computed by comparing measurement results of two spherical calibration standards.

Afterwards, the radar cross section of a reference target was determined at 77 GHz. This target is used as a reference by Continental for the calibration of automotive radar sensors. Due to the successful cooperation between Anritsu and the Institute of High Frequency Technology, this target could be characterized accurately and is now in use for calibration purposes.

The radar cross section (RCS) is a measurement quantity for the power density of an electromagnetic wave scattered by an object. Thereby it can be interpreted as a measure of visibility of an object to a radar system. Due to the widespread use of automotive radar sensors, the ability to characterize the RCS of obstacles with RCS measurement ranges becomes more and more significant.

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