From November 17 to 19, Rohde & Schwarz and Connektica are teaming up at stand D9-05 (Hall 5, Occitanie Region pavilion) to showcase a joint demonstrator built to streamline testing for everything from passive and active RF components like low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) to complete satellite payloads.
For many aerospace engineering teams, scaling up is where things stall. In early development, engineers typically configure instruments one by one, export data manually, and copy results into spreadsheets.
When it is time to ramp up production, those ad-hoc lab setups rarely translate easily to the factory floor, creating costly delays and compliance headaches, especially for teams stretched thin on RF automation expertise.
The joint demonstrator tackles this exact friction point. Pairing Rohde & Schwarz’s hardware, specifically the R&S SMW vector signal generator, FSW signal and spectrum analyzer, and R&S NGP power supply with Connektica’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for Assembly, Integration, and Test (AIT) automation, the setup offers an integrated path from R&D to the production line.
The collaboration itself is a case study in distributed aerospace engineering. Following a previous joint showcase in Salt Lake City and an initial rollout of their shared strategy in Munich earlier this year, the two teams built this latest demonstrator across borders: Rohde & Schwarz engineers in Madrid handled the hardware integration, while Connektica’s team in Toulouse configured the entire software stack remotely.
Rather than waiting until a satellite or radar system is ready for mass production, the two companies are pushing manufacturers to build test automation into their workflows from day one, even at low Technology Readiness Levels (TRL).
Their approach centers on three practical shifts:
- Early engagement: Bringing both partners in at the initial lab instrument purchase so early setups naturally evolve into production-ready systems.
- Ready-to-use software foundations: Providing off-the-shelf test sequences, instrument drivers, and report templates so engineers aren’t starting from a blank slate.
- Pre-characterized COTS systems: Offering Commercial Off-The-Shelf hardware and software configurations that cut down procurement and decision cycles.
By organizing data and building modular, automated test blocks early on, engineers can snap those routines together like Lego bricks as their hardware matures. That allows Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRL) to climb right alongside TRL – while automatically generating the end-to-end data traceability needed for EN9100 aerospace quality compliance down the road.
Attendees can see the live system in action at the Connektica booth throughout the Bremen show.
Leadership Comment
Jeremy Perrin, CEO of Connektica, said: “Most test benches are rebuilt from scratch when a product moves from the lab into production. With Rohde & Schwarz, we help engineers capture their lab work as reusable test blocks from the earliest development phases. By the time they scale, their production test flow is already largely built, and the quality foundations needed for EN9100 compliance are already in place.”
Ralph Kirchhoff, Global Business Development Manager Space at Rohde & Schwarz, added: “As satellite manufacturers scale from prototype AIT to qualification and series production, they need reproducible RF tests with shorter throughput and higher efficiency. Early integration of Rohde & Schwarz instrumentation with Connektica’s AIT automation lets programmes grow test capacity in step with manufacturing volume and deliver qualified satellite payloads and subsystems to market faster.”
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