FEAT


ATURE TEST & MEASUREMENT 5G: TESTING


BOUNDARIES THE


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cellular networks will arrive in reality atest announcements show that 5G


to enable new use cases, and expanding the testing world? The big talk on 5G is in 2019, so what do they bring for us in


autonomous driving, virtual reality and into new industry segments such as


factory automation. This is enabled by using new waveformfeatures, which


enables the simple deployment of private reliability and an architecture that enable ultra-low latency and high


more flexible air interface that can adapt networks. In addition 5G aims to bring a


to future needs, different spectrum


implementations. In reality for 2019, we allocations and different use case


can expect to see the first 5G devices more focussed to smartphones and


hotspot applications, as this is the simple incremental market for existing 4G


the technology to market quickly. During this area, to enable the industry to bring specifications for 5G have focussed on devices. The first Release 15


specifications mature, which will give the 2019 we can expect to see Release 16


One of the key new technologies is to enable these new industry segments. full expected functionality of 5G to


bring millimetre wave communications


and consumer devices. This brings along into mainstreamcommercial markets


implementation of ‘beamforming’ and


commercial devices. This technology has active antenna array technologies into


markets and high end backhaul links, but already been established in military


meet commercial consumer applications. now it must be scaled in size and cost to


challenges for testing the devices and Along with this, there are new


requirements and the important inter- technology, to meet consumer


requirements of cellular communications. operability and global roaming


As the 5G cell sites are deployed and


network coverage, as beamforming challenges to ensure the expected activated, there will then be new


8 MARCH 2019 | ELECTRONICS


introduces a new element that operators have little experience of using so far.


TESTING TIMES


The test equipment industry has faced several key new performance demands, these are for wider RF bandwidth (up to 1GHz of signal bandwidth), higher frequencies (operating to 43GHz), and higher data rates (up to 10Gbps). The area of test that has undergone most change is the area of ‘over the air’ testing, and the application into


conformance test and certification testing. As the base stations and devices (UE)may have integrated RF and antenna, there is no discrete connector point where a radio transceiver can be tested. The only way to measure modulati emission ‘over the


air’. This OTA testing brings new s, etc.) is via an antenna coupling on, in band and out of band the RF parameters (power,


challenges in terms of testmethod (how to rotate a device, which angles to


measure, how to integrate the power, how to extrapolate to equivalent isotropic parameters), and also in test tolerance andmea Particu


larly for certification testing, the surement uncertainty.


tolerances and uncertainty must be very Figure 1:


device test platform, and The Anritsu MT8000A


chamber system offer the MA8171A OTA


correct operation against testing in the lab for device and chipset


3GPP networks


well controlled. But using ‘over the air’ coupling introduces many sources of uncertainty (position, antenna coupling, propagation loss, etc.). So work has been done inside the 3GPP standards groups (RAN 4 & 5) to evaluate these uncertainties and ensure that the certification tests can be implemented by test equipment vendors. These studies have looked at Radiative Near Field (NF), Direct Far Field (DFF) and indirect Far Field (IFF) chambers, and the black box/grey box/white box approaches to measurement uncertainty.


An example of such a systemis the Anritsu MT8000A device test platform, together wit chamber sys


5G network simulator, so devices and chipsets can be tested in the lab for correct operation against 3GPP


networks, and provides very detailed control and analysis of the signalling parameters to enable deep de-bug of the devices.


Anritsu Corporation www.anritsu.com T: 01582 433280


/ ELECTRONICS


tem. The systemprovides a h the MA8171A OTA


blockbut i echno


5Gtec logy JonathanBo


snowalsodrivingnewtestingneeds,as ewkindonthe


gyhasarrive Borrill fro vedas thenew romAnritsuCo Corpora rationinv


mainstream oc mmercialmar e s devices.”


“One of the key newt ce hnologies is to bring millime rt ewave c mo munications into o s


nvestigates vestgate


k t and c n umer


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