Widening the Calibration Bandwidth

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Widening the Calibration Bandwidth (21.03 KB)

Working over a wide range of frequencies up to microwave and beyond is not a new requirement for measurement and calibration. There are mature fields with established infrastructures, methodologies, and availability of instrumentation and expertise at all levels from the national metrology institutes down to equipment users. What is new are the principal drivers and applications. In the past these were primarily military and defence industry lead, but in today’s world the needs of commercial industry, businesses and society are shaping this area of measurement. Rapidly emerging and developing technologies ranging from information systems to telecommunications involving faster data rates, wider bandwidth signals and higher operating frequencies are the new drivers for RF, microwave, and optical measurements, bringing in their wake corresponding requirements for calibration. Alongside the technical challenges are the business and economic challenges of lower cost, reduced downtime and improved efficiency. This paper raises the question of what do we need to do to support these measurements and provide traceability at the required uncertainty levels by exploring these new drivers and the technical, logistical, and economic issues involved.