General Motors built the world’s first “vehicle-sized electronically modulated spherical near-field antenna testing system,to Improve Sirius XM Satellite Radio Reception

General Motors built the world’s first “vehicle-sized electronically modulated spherical near-field antenna testing system,” or ATS, in partnership with transmission tech giant SATIMO SA (Societe d’Applications Technologiques de l’Imagerie Micro-Onde SA).

It looks like Sirius XM Satellite Radio reception is getting an upgrade thanks to “wireless signal super-receivers” developed by General Motors utilizing their newly completed and now operational $750,000 antenna testing facility.

There are only two other vehicle antenna validation systems like this anywhere in the world, and ours was the first. The ATS system lets us test the antenna systems on the GMC Yukon Denali in virtually every possible real-world condition. What would take other automakers days of testing can be done in minutes with this system.

According to General Motors, the gigantic, first-of-its-kind signal-testing facility was created to “optimize satellite antenna design and placement” and to “keep data, cellular and other signals active in areas where wireless signal strength is limited.”

The massive ATS, resembling half of the St. Louis Gateway Arch, transmits signals from 103 discrete probes to a vehicle on a rotating platform below. GM’s 2011 Yukon Denali will be one of the first vehicles to benefit from this new technology.