WP1: Establish traceability of high-speed and high-frequency measurement instrumentation.

WP2: Software tool for uncertainty propagation between time and frequency domain that can be applied to long data sets and is available free of charge.

WP3: Provide traceable characterisation of antenna and channel properties in the mm- and sub-mm wave range.

WP4: Establish methods for a traceable calibration of vector signal generators and analyzers and develop tools for a better understanding of the measurement uncertainty of digital signals.

Highlights within the JRP to date are:

• The CPEM 2012 Early Career Programme Award to Martin Hudlicka, CMI.
• A Student Award (3^rd place) to Heiko Füser (PTB) at the IRMMW-THz Conference 2012.
• A proposal for a workshop at European Microwave Conference (EuMC) 2013 has been submitted by the consortium and accepted.

The following progress beyond the state-of-the art can be reported:

• A broadband voltage pulse standard with 500 MHz frequency spacing and frequency components exceeding 500 GHz has been realised. This pulse standard is based on time-domain electro-optic measurements only.
• Laser-based measurement techniques can be used to separate forward and backward propagating voltage pulses on planar waveguides. Such a technique is a prerequisite for the development of a laser-based vector network analyzer.
• Laser-based measurement techniques have been employed for spatially resolved phase and amplitude measurements with low invasiveness of the detection system.
• The key correlated uncertainty components from instrument measurements can be stored so that the requirement grows as n rather than n², with n being the number of measurement points has been confirmed by two independent algorithms.
• The new software algorithm for uncertainty propagation with large data files has been translated into a fast programming language. Moreover, a graphical user interface has been created and sent to JRP-Partners for testing.
• The revised compression algorithm for uncertainty analysis has been tested. Additional routines that perform simple arithmetic operations and extract the time or frequency domain uncertainties have been developed and the user guide has been completed.
• Two new antenna scanners were set up. One of the antenna scanner has been finished and measurements on planar antennas, horn antennas, and open-ended waveguides have been performed.
• A study on how to make a real-time oscilloscope traceable to primary standards has been performed in order to use it for traceable calibration of vector signal generators and analyzers.
• Various hardware impairments, dominant in vector signal generator (VSG) and vector signal analyzer (VSA) instruments, have been studied and modelled. A Matlab version of the software tool for the uncertainty assessment of digital signals has been further improved.

Two newsletters have been prepared. Technical/scientific results have been presented at various international conferences. In fact, JRP-Partners authored or co-authored 21 presentations at international conferences such as CPEM, IRMMW-THz, and EuMC. At EuMC 2012 two JRP-Partners participated in a workshop on accurate phase measurements at high-frequencies. At EuMC 2013 a workshop proposed by the JRP consortium will take place. Moreover, two JRP partners are actively contributing to a new IEC standard about waveform parameter uncertainties.