Characterizing Polymer Material Properties For Automotive Applications

To ensure automotive radar sensors concealed in bumpers transmit effectively within the correct frequency domain, it's crucial to select appropriate paint and coatings. These radar-transparent areas must match the vehicle's paint while maintaining optimal material properties. Traditionally, quasi-optical or waveguide-based setups with vector network analyzers (VNA) were employed for this purpose.

This application note introduces a simplified method for material characterization in the automotive radar frequency domain (76 GHz to 81 GHz) using the R&S®QAR50 automotive radome tester.