Munich, Germany. From April 1, 2018 onward, all newly registered cars and light trucks in the European Union must be equipped with the eCall automatic emergency system. The mandate comes approximately one year after ERA-GLONASS became mandatory for Russia and the Eurasian Customs Union. A new option for the R&S SMBV100A vector signal generator together with test-automation software delivers standard-compliant, fully automated performance tests for the GNSS receiver integrated in the eCall module.
delivering fully automated performance
tests for the GNSS receiver
integrated in an eCall module
Before eCall or ERA-GLONASS modules can be integrated into cars, they need to be certified. They have to undergo a series of conformance and performance tests, which must be in line with applicable standards.
The GNSS receiver integrated into the eCall module typically evaluates signals from GPS, Galileo, and satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) to determine the vehicle position. In an emergency, the module automatically places a call to the nearest emergency call center and transmits vehicle position data and other information via a cellular link. To make sure the accuracy of the reported position as well as a number of other performance parameters are within certain limits, the built-in GNSS receiver has to be tested against the criteria defined in the EU2017/79, Annex VI and UNECE 2016/07 specifications.
The R&S SMBV100A in combination with the new R&S SMBV-K361 option and the R&S CMWrun sequencer software is suitable for performing fully automated GNSS performance tests on eCall modules in line with the EU2017/79, Annex VI, and UNECE 2016/07 specifications. All test cases specified in these documents can be configured, scheduled, and conducted automatically with this solution. It enables users to quickly and easily verify the positioning capabilities of their eCall modules and to tremendously simplify and accelerate the certification process.
The new R&S SMBV-K361 eCall test suite is now available from Rohde & Schwarz. With this new GNSS performance test solution for eCall modules, Rohde & Schwarz offers a complete portfolio of standard-compliant conformance and performance test solutions for both eCall and ERA-GLONASS based on the R&S CMW500 and R&S SMBV100A.