Validation of CATRs for 5G mmWave OTA Testing Applications

The 3GPP and CTIA have chosen CATRs as the default test system for over-the-air conformance and performance testing of the 5G New Radio (NR) at mmWave frequencies. However, the requirements for evaluating the DUT within these systems and the methods for validating system performance differ considerably from what the established antenna measurement industry would typically do to test antennas or validate the performance of a CATR. This paper will provide a brief overview of the current methodologies and investigate how well they work for the target application. It will also make some suggestions for possible improvements to the methodologies used.