Development of RF and microwave metrology capability II

Radiofrequency (RF) and microwave (MW) technologies are used in a wide range of applications such as health care, security, environmental monitoring, and communications. As these technologies rapidly develop, so too do the needs for measurement and calibration at these frequencies – for quantities such as electromagnetic field intensity and RF power – to ensure these technologies are safe and efficient.

However, many emerging National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) still lack the required expertise and capacity to provide measurements and calibrations for these quantities.

The EMPIR project RFMicrowave began the process of closing this capability gap and RFMicrowave2 follows on from it to address a number of outstanding topics.

 

The project will develop traceable RF/MW metrology capabilities at emerging NMIs for measuring RF/MW power, attenuation, and reflection, extending provision of these services to beyond a few developed NMIs.

It will also develop metrology capabilities for antenna parameter measurements and electromagnetic field intensity measurements, which are each demanding in their requirements for both knowledge about electromagnetic field theory and appropriate laboratory facilities. These developments will be tailored to the participating institutes’ needs and will also be accompanied by full uncertainty evaluations, which will reflect methods currently under development by other European Partnership research projects.

 

Uptake of the project’s outcomes will be optimised through coordination by the consortium and made freely available in good practice guides published on the project’s website. This will allow the measurement supply chain and end-users in industry better access to high-quality measurements and calibrations for RF/MW technology across Europe, in turn improving the quality of new RF and MW technologies by ensuring safety and efficiency.

 

Publishable Summary