The Challenge of New Technologies in Electrical Metrology at RF, Microwave and Higher Frequencies

Project Description

This co-operative project was discussed and adopted at the EUROMET HF Experts meeting in November 2001. It is concerned with cross-European collaboration to ensure that an effective metrological capability can be developed within Europe to support new RF, microwave and millimetre-wave to terahertz technologies.

Measurement facilities for these new technologies can be expensive and the project is being set up to co-ordinate the pooling of European resources.
The proposal was prompted by NPL’s undertaking of a UK-government sponsored study (October 2001- October 2002) to report on future needs for Guided Wave (GW) standards. This study incorporates direct inputs from other NMIs: NIST, PTB and BNM-LNE.
The EUROMET proposal recognises the wider European interests in this ‘challenge’ and is targeted to follow up these interests in a co-operative fashion over a longer period of time.
The project should identify innovative new approaches for realising standards and should identify the industrial technologies that are driving the need for new methods and lower uncertainties. It should aim to find European collaborative solutions for meeting new metrological needs. Areas of interest include cryogenic, quantum and digital standards, on-wafer measurements, phase noise, balanced TEM lines, validation of numerical modelling, substrate permittivity, intermodulation (PIM), ‘noise-like’ power measurements (on telecoms signals), pulsed power, field generators and transfer standards, MEM (MicroElectroMechanical) devices and generic standards for complex waveforms.

Final Report 2013-03-14

EUROMET 648 was set up, after the EUROMET RF & MW sub-committee meeting in November 2001, to facilitate collaborative research projects on new standards for advanced RF & Microwave metrology.
A meeting of participants in April 2003 established 16 technical areas for potential collaboration. These areas varied from impedance and on-wafer to free-field, time domain, Terahertz, and smart materials. Actions for each of these areas varied from ‘watching brief’ to setting up workshops. Two workshops were agreed: one on CW Power organised by BNM-LNE/LAMA (now LNE) and a workshop organised by NPL on more general progress in individual NMIs on RF and Microwave measurements for advanced and new technologies. These workshops were held in December 2004 at LNE in Paris.
Until 2007, the project met with limited success – the workshops certainly did help to promote a dialogue on research between RF & Microwave labs in Euro(a)met NMIs - but it did not directly lead to research collaborations between NMIs, largely because of funding issues: no two NMIs having possessed relevant or adequate funding for similar research simultaneously.
With the advent of iMERA and ERANET+ it was decided at the March 2005 sub-committee meeting that EUROMET 648 would continue as a vehicle for co-ordinating activities associated with iMERA and ERANET+ as well as providing opportunities for technical discussions on less formal research collaborations.
At the sub-field meetings held in Delft (Netherlands) in 2007 and at Boras (Sweden) in 2009 it was agreed to continue the project on the same basis. At these meetings substantial technical workshops and planning sessions for ERANET+ and EMRP joint research projects (JRPs) took place under the aegis of EUROMET 648.

However, with the full implementation of the EMRP programme, other opportunities for discussing RF and Microwave JRPs have been offered by roadmapping and EMRP Partnering meetings, which have been successful in planning, coordinating, and bidding for JRPs. Hence the role of Project 648 as a 'talking shop' for JRPs has therefore become redundant. It was not used at the 2011 meeting of the RF & MW sub-committee, and at that point Project 648 can be considered to have terminated.
Project 648 achieved the important aim of encouraging and preparing the NMIs to work together in research projects. This has paid off since 2009 in the setting up of EMRP JRPs, a number of which are now proceeding successfully in the RF & MW area.