Overview
Mirror Replacement Systems Camera Testing | Every vehicle on the road carries mirrors that are there by law. UN Regulation No. 46 defines the fields of view a driver must be able to see and sets the requirements for the devices that provide them, the indirect-vision classes I to VI. For decades, that meant glass. Camera Monitor Systems (CMS) change the picture. A camera on the bodywork captures the prescribed field of view and a monitor inside the cabin presents it to the driver, enabling lower drag, wider and more flexible fields of view, and digital features such as automatic dimming or trailer-aware framing. But the moment a CMS replaces a mandatory mirror, it inherits that mirror's legal status: it becomes a safety-relevant system that has to meet ISO 16505 to be type-approved under UN R46. Type approval is pass or fail. Booking the official homologation test before your system is truly ready is the expensive way to find a problem, a marginal contrast ratio, a resolution that drops at the edges, a glare artifact in the low-sun case, because a failure means redesign, a new test slot, and lost time-to-market. That is exactly the risk the iQ-Lab is built to remove.
Every vehicle on the road carries mirrors that are there by law. UN Regulation No. 46 defines the fields of view a driver must be able to see and sets the requirements for the devices that provide them, the indirect-vision classes I to VI. For decades, that meant glass.
Camera Monitor Systems (CMS) change the picture. A camera on the bodywork captures the prescribed field of view and a monitor inside the cabin presents it to the driver, enabling lower drag, wider and more flexible fields of view, and digital features such as automatic dimming or trailer-aware framing. But the moment a CMS replaces a mandatory mirror, it inherits that mirror's legal status: it becomes a safety-relevant system that has to meet ISO 16505 to be type-approved under UN R46.
Type approval is pass or fail. Booking the official homologation test before your system is truly ready is the expensive way to find a problem, a marginal contrast ratio, a resolution that drops at the edges, a glare artifact in the low-sun case, because a failure means redesign, a new test slot, and lost time-to-market. That is exactly the risk the iQ-Lab is built to remove.
Be sure before it counts: iQ-Lab prequalification
The iQ-Lab runs your CMS through the same image-quality and performance measurements the homologation test is based on, field of view, magnification, resolution, distortion, OECF, color, luminance and contrast across all five lighting conditions, glare artifacts, and timin, and tells you exactly where your system stands against ISO 16505. You see every marginal parameter early, while there is still room to iterate, and you arrive at type approval with the data to back you up.
What we Measure in Prequalification
The iQ-Lab evaluates the camera–monitor chain exactly as the driver experiences it, the same parameters the homologation test will check.
Field of View, Magnification & Resolution
Sharpness & Geometric Distortion
Tonal & Color Reproduction
Luminance, Contrast & Glare
This is where CMS testing gets demanding. ISO 16505 prescribes five lighting conditions, direct sunlight on the monitor, bright diffuse daylight, night, and two low-sun cases that drive a high-intensity glare source into the camera, and checks contrast, smear, blooming, and lens flare in each. We also assess monitor isotropy and timing (frame rate, image formation time.
International Standards relevant to Mirror Replacement Systems
UN Regulation No. 46
ISO 16505
ISO 12233
Photography, Electronic still picture imaging, Resolution and spatial frequency responses. The method ISO 16505 references for SFR-based resolution and sharpness measurement of the camera–monitor chain.
Prefer to Test In-House?
If you run your own lab, we supply the exact charts and software the standard calls for, the same equipment the iQ-Lab uses.
ISO 16505 Chart Bundle
iQ-Analyzer-X
Individual ISO 16505 Charts
Need only one parameter? Every chart in the bundle, TE197, TE287, TE288, TE289, TE290, is also available individually, as reflective or transparent versions where applicable, with custom sizing and reference data on request.
Know. Fix. Approve.
Know where you stand.
Fix it while it's cheap.
Approach approval with confidence.
Independent, reproducible results that correlate with the official test, so you book homologation only when you're genuinely ready.
Note
The iQ-Lab provides prequalification and development testing. The official type-approval (homologation) test is carried out by your designated technical service or type-approval authority, we make sure that when you get there, there are no surprises.