MWC: What’s up in Wireless Test
mmWave is another 5G aspect that’s gaining a momentum. mmWave offers numerous benefits related to bandwidth extension, as the spectrum below 6 GHz is becoming scarce. Wider spectrum can lead to faster data rates—and as 5G is expected to be 100 times faster than 4G— comes the need for more spectrum to accommodate wireless data needs and provide a backdrop for the billions of devices expected to be connected to the Internet.
I expect 5G to gain more meaning for operators and test equipment vendors at MWC 2015. Test equipment companies such as Anritsu, National Instruments, Keysight Technologies, and Rohde & Schwarz are focused heavily on 5G research. We expect more news to come around massive MIMO and mmWave testing.
National Instruments (NI) for example, was one of the pioneers of 5G technologies and the company recently updated its LabView Communications System Design Suite, which integrates software-defined radio hardware with software for 5G prototyping. The new LabView solution extends the ability for users to solve software-defined radio problems by combining the structured data flow with synchronous data flow.
Rohde & Schwarz, among other test equipment vendors such as Anite, Aeroflex and Keysight Technologies, currently supports research and development efforts to identify potential technologies for implementing 5G mobile radio networks. At MWC 2015, a number of test-equipment makers are expected to demonstrate their latest 5G applications in the millimeter wave range. Rohde & Schwarz, in particular, will demonstrate the test setup that is capable of testing bandwidths up to 2 GHz, which is 100 times larger than in current LTE networks.
LTE-A (Long-term evolution-advanced) will likely be another "hot topic" at MWC 2015. This technology continues making inroads into the global communications market. While LTE’s peak downlink speed can be 300 Mbps, LTE-A is theoretically capable of reaching 1 Gbps. LTE’s uplink highest rates are 75 Mbps where LTE-A is at 500 Mbps. The number of LTE deployments reached 367 in January 2015 while 49 LTE-A commercial networks were deployed in 31 countries according to 4G Americas. The transition from of LTE to LTE-A is evident around the world.
What we can expect from LTE-A:
- Faster download speeds: Average throughput should be two to three times that of vanilla LTE, so LTE-A could have average download speeds of roughly 14-21 Mbps (compared to roughly 7 Mbps for LTE)
- Lower latency (delay): LTE-A will enhance the QoE through its lower latency that LTE. We have seen big drops from 2G to 3G (about 70 ms) to LTE (about 10-15 ms) already, but LTE-A promises latencies of roughly 5-7 ms (about half of that of LTE).
According to Frost & Sullivan’s latest research, the LTE-A test equipment market exceeded a $250 million mark in 2014 and is expected to reach almost $1 billion by 2021 growing at CAGR of 21.2% from 2014 to 2021.
Anritsu’s ME7873L RF/RRM conformance test system received Global Certification Forum approval for more than 80% of radio frequency and radio resource management conformance test cases for TD-LTE carrier aggregation as China is deploying LTE-A services.
Other test equipment vendors such as Keysight Technologies are also responding to the need for LTE-A testing capabilities. Keysight announced expanded LTE-A testing sfor its E7515A UXM wireless test set, focused on three-component-carrier, carrier aggregation and the ability to validate 450 Mbps downlink speeds with three 20 MHz component carriers. The system can also test two CC (component carier) uplinks for both FDD (frequency-division duplexing) and TDD (time-division duplexing) and intra-band measurements.
The Rohde & Schwarz CMW500 wideband radio communication tester is another example of an integrated testing solution that is expected to showcase new features including RF, protocol and end to end tests for LTE-Advanced 3CC/4CC downlink carrier aggregation (CA) with 2×2, 4×2 and even 8×2 MIMO this year.
LTE-A 3CC downlink carrier aggregation becomes important when it comes to RF conformance testing of chipsets and mobile user equipment. The Rohde & Schwarz TS8980 test system effectively simulates an LTE-Advanced network with 3CC CA in the downlink and executes initial test cases for transmitters and receivers.
MWC is one of the main industry events of the year, and the test equipment vendors I work with told me to stay tuned for some of the latest product announcements. I think there has been a lot taking place on the R&D background during the last twelve months that the industry will really like. I personally can’t wait to experience it.
This article by courtesy of EE Times Test & Measurement DesignLine
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
