Methods for dynamic calibration of over-the-air path loss in over-the-air radio-frequency test systems

Abstract

Calibration equipment for calibrating multiple test stations in a test system is provided. Each test station may include a test unit, a test chamber with an over-the-air (OTA) antenna, and a radio-frequency (RF) cable that connects the test unit to the test chamber. Reference devices under test (DUTs) may be used to calibrate the OTA path loss of each test station at desired frequencies. Once calibrated, the test chambers may be used during production testing to test factory DUTs to determine whether a particular production DUT is a passing or failing DUT according to pass/fail criteria. A running average path loss value may be constantly updated based on path loss values measured using the reference DUTs and the passing production DUTs. Dynamically updating the path loss value using this statistical approach can properly track the behavior of each test station as operating conditions shift over time.