GAITHERSBURG, MD-A new report describes tests carried out by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the wireless environment in automotive manufacturing facilities. The measurements, carried out through a joint collaboration between NIST and the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), an umbrella organization for collaborative research between Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., indicate that these facilities are highly reflective, reverberant environments that can complicate reliable performance of wireless technology.

According to NIST and USCAR, the measured results provide key parameters that describe the wireless propagation environment, which will be useful for assessing current and future deployment of wireless technology in industrial manufacturing, for standards development and for qualifying the performance of wireless equipment used in highly reflective environments. Using the measured data, NIST is currently developing laboratory-based methods for qualifying wireless equipment for use in highly reflective environments.

“NIST Tests of the Wireless Environment in Automobile Manufacturing Facilities" (NIST Technical Note 1550) by Kate A. Remley, Galen Koepke, Chriss Grosvenor, Robert T. Johnk, John Ladbury, Dennis Camell and Jason Coder is availablehere.