— Anritsu Corp. has received Global Certification Forum approval for three more carrier aggregation band combinations on its ME7873L. The company achieved approval by validating 80% of the Priority 1 radio frquency/radio resource management test cases in the GCF’s work item 162 for new band combinations that include 4-13, 1-18, and 1-26. Anritsu already has previous approvals for 1-5 and 3-8 band combinations.
Anritsu also announced this week that it has introduced new clock recovery options for its MP1800A Signal Quality Analyzer. The new options expand the capability of bit error rate testing (BERT) in high-speed interconnect design applications.
— Anite made new releases of its Nemo Handy-A handheld network measurement and troubleshooting device, along with its Nemo Walker Air for indoor benchmarking. Anite added that it is the first in the market with a “complete set of locking and forcing features with Samsung Galaxy Core LTE based on the Broadcom M320 chipset.”
“Specific cells in mobile networks need to be tested without the test systems automatically switching to neighbouring base stations”, explains Jussi Lemiläinen, who is VP of product management and business development for Anite’s networking testing segment. He said that the forcing features of the Handy-A and Walker Air along with the Samsung Galaxy Core LTE “make locking into a specific cell quick and easy. This enables more accurate testing, troubleshooting and optimization of mobile networks, improving the network’s quality as well as the usability of mobile services”.
— Ixia has a new series of handheld solutions. The PerfectStorm One series is for massive-scale testing of applications and security, the company said, as well as providing a way for network equipment manufacturers to demonstrate product performance in the field.
The PerfectStorm One integrates two solutions from Ixia, its IxLoad and BreakingPoint software applciations, into a portable system to simulate “millions of real-world end-user environments”.
“Enterprise architects and infrastructure operations teams have become less and less reliant on vendor data sheets and mandatory compliance audits to ensure highest level of performance and security during service design, application rollout and change management,” said Areg Alimian, senior director of product management for Ixia. He called the PerfectStorm One “the only portable solution that provides the ability to perform a true litmus test on their own networks by creating metropolitan scale traffic volumes that will definitively prove or disprove the networks’ resilience when deployed in the real world.”
—Agilent Technologies says it has launched the industry’s first power device analyzer for circuit design. Agilent said that circuit designers need an accurate view of power devices performance across a wide range of consitions and temperatures that are usually not provided by data sheets. The company says its single-box B1506A provides automatic characterization of all power device parameters across temperatures from -50 °C to +250 °C, and up to 150 amps and 3kV.
Agilent also announced a number of enhancements for its MXA and EXA X-series signal analyzers, aimed at helping engineers who are doing wireless communications and general-purpose testing from the R&D stage to design verification and manufacturing.
The MXA has more sensitivity due to a new Noise Floor Extension feature to allow the measurement of very weak signals in the presence of strong ones. Both the MXA and EXA also now have a new atomic frequency reference (AFR) option that Agilent says “allows base-station installers to verify the synchronization of signals transmitted within a multiple antenna system at the highest precision, thereby providing the best possible quality of service.”
“Engineers are facing a number of challenges as they begin working in millimeter-wave and higher frequencies, including more accurately identifying and measuring weak or previously unknown signals, as well as achieving a higher level of frequency stability,” said Jim Curran, marketing manager for Agilent’s microwave and communications division. “Each of the enhancements offered by Agilent provides engineers new insight to keep pace with evolving wireless industry requirements.”
