CASE
STUDY

SGS Leverages MVG Antenna Test
System For Rapid Automotive
Antenna Testing

Ervin Li
Wireless Laboratory Manager,
Connectivity & Products at SGS

MVG has an incredible
R&D team and has been
instrumental in providing
additional technical support
as we have built out new
automotive antenna test
techniques using the MVG
chamber.”

INTRODUCTION
The demand for enhanced telematics features that rely on communication antennas
is growing year over year. From autonomous vehicles to everyday commuteror commercial vehicles, a variety of communication links, including cellular, WiFi,navigation (GNSS/GPS/Beidou/GLONASS), UWB etc, are now becoming standard for
new vehicles. Of course, these antennas and vehicle platforms all need to be tested
during the prototyping phase, and ultimately, require certification testing before they canlegally be sold in the regions containing the world’s largest markets.
SGS-CSTC Standards Technical Services Co. Ltd. (SGS), has been at the forefrontof wireless standards testing for Asian-Pacific markets (APAC), and worldwide, for over3 decades. As automotive antenna prototype testing and certification testing beganemerging as a customer need, SGS sought out the best solution to provide automobile,electronics, communication, and reliability testing. After exhaustive research andinquiry, SGS purchased a MVG SG 3000, the premier full scale vehicle antenna
measurement system, to provide extremely rapid testing for their customers, who
consist of all of the major automotive OEMs and newer Asian automotive OEMs.
“We chose MVG as our antenna test chamber supplier because test efficiency wasabsolutely critical for us,” shared Ervin Li, Wireless Laboratory Manager, Connectivity &Products at SGS, “MVG’s proven track record and extensive experience with vehicle
antenna testing helped to close the deal!”
Over nearly 2 years of ownership has seen SGS satisfied with MVG’s antenna chamber
performance, efficiency, product support, and additional technical support to tackle thechallenges of an emerging and ever-changing automotive antenna market.a a

SGS: DELIVERING SUPERIOR WIRELESS& ANTENNA TESTING SERVICES
SGS is an enormous network of over 200 laboratories, 90 branches, and 16,000
professionals dedicated to providing a diverse range of customers with testing,inspection, and certification services. SGS-CSTC was founded as a joint venture
between SGS Group and China Standard Science and Technology Group in 1991.
A major facet of SGS business has historically been wireless testing, mainly mobile
phone testing, including antenna and over-the-air (OTA) testing.
At the turn of the decade, SGS noticed the increased need of their automotive
customers to test vehicle antennas for both prototype/tuning and for certification
testing. The major OEMs are developing internal standards for their vehicle antennas,
while they also need to comply with the regional certification requirements for themarkets they serve. This new demand put SGS in an ideal position to provide antenna
testing services to their existing and future customers in every major market, including
the US, Europe, Japan, and China.
The capabilities in demand are in-vehicle networking terminal testing, and out-vehicle
networking terminal testing. This includes 4G/5G regulatory certification for mobile
communications such as CE, FCC, IC, MIC, and ITA, which covers over 180 countries.
Additional sought out testing capabilities include operator testing requirements like GCFand PTCRB.

Additionally, there are a host of other automotive specific testing capabilities that are
advantageous to provide complete over-the-air automotive wireless communication
system and related system testing:➊ Emergency call (eCall)➋ Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), including cellular V2X (C-V2X)➌ Logo certification (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, UWB, USB Type-C, HDMI, etc.)➍ Product compatibility and cosite interference➎ Interoperability (Carplay, Android Auto)➏ Voice recognition➐ Signal measurement➑ Software verification➒ Global telecom operator network entry certification➓ Other wireless technologies and related RF testing
Automotive safety and mechanical reliability
Environmental simulation verification
Automotive EMC
Originally, SGS’s automotive antenna customers requested only passive antenna
testing. As the performance requirements and features of these antenna systems
have steadily increased, there is now a demand for active OTA testing. “We have beenpromoting active OTA testing to automotive OEMs for years,” Ervin shared, “There arestill only a few OEMs doing active OTA testing in full vehicle level, but this will likely
change over time as antenna technology becomes more prevalent in vehicles.”
It is predicted that this testing demand will grow in quantity as well as sophistication
over time, a trend that follows with the wireless technology integration trends into
automotive systems. This is corroborated by many of the automotive OEMs building
out their own vehicle antenna testing standards and facilities. This also includes several
governments, such as the Asian governments.Hunt For A Suitable Automotive Aten

THE HUNT FOR A SUITABLE AUTOMOTIVEANTENNA TEST CHAMBER
To fulfill this need, SGS began the search for an extremely reliable antenna test
chamber that was large enough to accommodate entire vehicles and automotive
platforms. Moreover, a crux of SGS business is providing rapid testing services to theircustomers.
The SGS business approach of providing rapid testing ensures that they remaincompetitive and lucrative even while offering extremely cost competitive rates per hourly
service. The only way this is possible is by using wireless test chamber technologythat is both highly efficient and accurate. This minimizes the time needed to test andthe possibility of having to retest due to errors or malfunctions. This also means thatchamber down-time is a factor that SGS must minimize and directly impacts theircustomer relationships and bottom line. Having an antenna test chamber that is morereliable and delivers test results more rapidly would justify a premium in capital expense,as the net value of the superior chamber would quickly outweigh a higher initial cost.
“Many of SGS’s customers do R&D testing to tune their antenna and communications
electronics, and they need to have a very fast turn around on this type of testing,” Ervinshared, “If the test takes 3-4 hours to get a result, that slows down the process.” Ervinexplained, “The faster a test system can deliver the results, the higher efficiency of R&D
testing we can offer to our clients.”

With this in mind, SGS endeavored to find the ideal antenna test chamber for theirbusiness needs. After exhaustively examining every major antenna test chamberprovider, there was one left standing. MVG has had a long history of providing antenna
test chambers for automotive customers. Moreover, MVG’s antenna test chamber
technology is built to offer the highest levels of reliability and efficiency in testing. Partof this aspect is the advanced test approach MVG chambers are built around. For
instance, the SG 3000 is a multiprobe electronically scanned system that can much
more rapidly and accurately conduct a full spherical measurement compared to legacy
test chambers with single probe mechanically scanned technology.
SGS is the world’s first and only third-party multi-probe full vehicle OTA laboratory tosupport OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers operating in the connected vehicle market. Thefacility supports OTA measurements for 5G FR1 NSA/SA, GNSS, C-V2X and theemerging UWB technologies for automobiles in compliance with the 5GAA Vehicular
Antenna Test Methodology (VATM) Standard. Specifically, the SG 3000 is capable ofverifying vehicle 2/3/4/5G, GPS/Beidou/Galileo/Glonass, C-V2X, UWB, and a host ofother common wireless technologies (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc) deployed on automotive
platforms operating between 400 MHz and 10 GHz.

“We talked with all the majorantenna test chamber providers
and finally chose MVG,
mainly due to the extremelyhigh testing efficiency”“At the time, we were looking to develop a new business in vehicle antenna testing,”
Ervin shared,” We talked with all the major antenna test chamber providers and finallychose MVG, mainly due to the extremely high testing efficiency.” This decision required
SGS to investigate the needs of their potential automotive antenna clients, where SGS
discovered that one of their clients was already using the exact antenna test chamber(SG 3000) from MVG that SGS was considering. Not only did this help to establish
the credibility of MVG’s antenna test chamber solutions for SGS, but also allowed forthe enhancement of a business relationship between a potential customer with acompatible chamber solution.
“I appreciated MVG’s support during the construction of this huge antenna test chamber
and all of their subsequent support,” Ervin detailed, “Beyond product support, which hasbeen exceptional, MVG has also gone out of their way and aided us in solving a related
software challenge.”

CONCLUSION
After nearly 2 years of ownership of a MVG SG 3000, SGS has been able toconsistently and reliably deliver high efficiency automotive antenna test services to adiverse range of customers, including every major automotive OEM and many Chinese
automotive manufacturers. SGS predicts the growing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs)and the additional wireless control and communication electronics present on theseplatforms will only lead to a greater need for advanced automotive antenna testing. This
clearly justifies SGS’s investment in an MVG antenna test chamber, and MVG’s ongoingsupport has aided SGS in addressing new business needs by developing new techniques and ensuring rapid testing services for SGS’s customers.

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