Capabilities

Outdoor Automotive Antenna Range:
The outdoor Spherical Near-Field/Quasi-Far-Field Automotive Antenna Range facility is managed by the AEWL at Oakland University (OU). It has the capability of testing on-vehicle antennas in the frequency range of 800MHz - 6GHz. The range covers 360 degrees in azimuth and 90 degrees in elevation with 1 degree of accuracy in each axis. A single arm gantry with a radius of 10m holds the transmit antenna. The turn-table that supports the antenna under test (AUT) has a 6m diameter and a weight load capacity of 14,000 lbs, making it ideal to test antennas on a large variety of vehicles.

Antenna Measurement Chamber:
The AEWL at Oakland University (OU) manages an antenna measurement chamber facility. The chamber is capable of testing antennas in the rage of 800MHz - 6GHz. The antenna under test (AUT) is placed on a 1m round edged GND plane. The chamber dimensions are 5.0m x 3.0m x 3.0m and the distance between the transmit and receive antennas is 2.7m.

GPS/INS Truth Reference System:
The AEWL has a Novatel Black Diamond System (BDS). The BDS is comprised of a high-end dual-frequency GPS receiver integrated with a ring-laser gyro. The BDS can be used as a truth reference system to gauge the position, velocity and timing accuracy of automotive grade GPS systems.

Antenna Measurement Service:
The AEWL provides vehicle-level antenna measurement/testing services to industry, academia and federal government agencies. Our outdoor facility consists of a 6-meter diameter steel turntable capable of supporting a weight load capacity of 13,000lbs and operates in continuous or stepped mode with an angular resolution of 0.1 degrees. A dielectric gantry arm with a 9-meter radius serves as the theta axis. It is height adjustable from 0 meters to 2 meters relative to the ground and has an angular range extending from 0 degrees (zenith) to 100 degrees (10 degrees below the horizon) with 0.1 degree resolution. The frequency range for this system ranges from 600 MHz to 6,000 MHz. We routinely conduct measurements for the following wireless systems: Cellular LTE/5G, Sirius/XM, GNSS, C-V2X, WiFi, Bluetooth. In addition, we have a terrestrial tower that is used for horizon-level gain measurements over the frequency range extending from 60 MHz up to 600 MHz in conjunction with the turntable. This tower is typically utilized for FM and DAB measurements.