Rohde & Schwarz
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Rohde & Schwarz (IPA: [ʁoːdə ʊnt ʃvaʁts] in German; anglicized pronunciation [ɹoʊdə ənd ʃwɔ(ɹ)ts]) is an independent group of companies specializing in electronics. It is a leading supplier of solutions in the fields of test and measurement, broadcasting, radiomonitoring and radiolocation as well as mission-critical radiocommunications. Established more than 75 years ago, Rohde & Schwarz has a global presence and a dedicated service network in over 70 countries. It has approx. 7200 employees and achieved a net revenue of € 1.4 billion in the past fiscal year. Company headquarters are in Munich, Germany.
It was originally founded by Dr. Hermann Schwarz and Dr. Lothar Rohde who met as students during their studies in Jena. In 1932 they first worked together to build a precision frequency meter and formed the company in 1933.
The company was honored at the 2008 Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for development of monitoring systems for compliance standards for ATSC & DVB transport streams.
[edit] Technical Milestones
1933 Europe's first measuring instrument for high-frequency ceramics
1934 Development of a frequency meter up to 750 MHz
1934 Development of the first 1-kW shortwave transmitter
1935 Production of a frequency meter up to 3,000 MHz
1937 Production of frequency standards unrivalled worldwide
1938 First portable crystal clock worldwide
1949 Europe's first VHF FM sound-broadcast transmitter
1950 Vector network analysis kicks off with the Zg diagraph
1955 Serving air safety - development of radio direction finder NAP1
1957 Development of the legendary standard shortwave receiver EK 07
1964 Europe's first air-traffic-noise monitoring system for Frankfurt Airport
1967 Europe's first automatic IC test system
1974 First microprocessor-controlled mobile radio tester
1975 First system in the world for monitoring the quality of TV signals
1979 Most accurate radio direction finder in the world for vessel traffic monitoring
1980 Europe's first stereo/dual-sound TV transmission system
1984 First processor for automatic setup of shortwave links
1986 Introduction of radio data system (RDS) in Germany
1986 New standards for spectrum analysis with Spectrum Analyzer FSA
1990 GSM system simulator as the technical launch into the digital era of mobile radio
1990 First compact GSM test system
1992 World’s fastest digital radiomonitoring system
1993 First compact radio tester with base-station simulation
1995 Transmission equipment supplied for largest DAB pilot project worldwide
1996 Europe's largest trunked radio cell in Berlin
1997 Reference test equipment for world's first dual-mode mobile phone system for combined cellular and satellite communication
1997 Order for the supply and installation of a nationwide DVB-T transmitter network in Great Britain
1998 First DVB-T project for Rohde & Schwarz
1998 First TETRA project in Germany
1999 World's first operational universal software radios for use on military platforms
1999 T&M equipment for mobile radio – the R&S® CMU200 era
2000 First company to offer complete line of software radios for modern MIL platforms such as Eurofighter and A400M
2001 World's first tap-proof GSM mobile phone
2002 World‘s first universal transmitter, covering all analog and digital TV standards
2002 Top secret: encryption for the military and government authorities
2005 World‘s first 8-port network analyzer up to 8 GHz
2006 TV goes mobile with Rohde & Schwarz
2007 Energy savings – the R&S® Nx8600 high-power transmitters
2007 Spectrum analysis crosses frontiers – the R&S® FSU67
2008 Radiomonitoring comes compact in the R&S® ESMD
2008 Radiomonitoring the mobile way with the R&S® PR100