Test and Measurement: Network testing partnerships on research, training

This week’s test and measurement news includes several test companies extending their relationships focused on research and training.

• Keysight Technologies is partnering with Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radioelectronics in Russia to develop teaching and research programs on radio frequency and microwave technologies, which includes a lab outfitted with Keysight equipment that is expected to open this month. The university already uses Keysight equipment, but the new center of competence will be the first of its kind in the Siberian region to train both students and professional engineers in designing, analyzing and de-bugging complex systems, Keysight said.

The university will offer training courses for companies and research institutes as well as students.

• Anite signed a collaboration agreement with independent test laboratory China Academy of Information and Communications Technology to “collaborate on the development of new advanced test scenarios to verify the performance of TD-LTE and LTE-Advanced devices and network infrastructure.” They will also be studying virtual drive testing methods and working on defining channel models for indoor and outdoor situations, as well as developing test methods for 3D-MIMO and other features of LTE Releases 12 and 13.

The CAICT also recently signed an agreement for 5G collaborative research with Ericsson.

Anite also announced an upgrade to its Nemo Xynergy enterprise-level analytics platform with new online dashboards that allow the correlation of multiple information sources on wireless networks, and the visualization of that data. Xynergy has the ability to include drive test, OSS call trace, small cell and DAS, as well as network management data.

“The visualization feature revolutionizes the way information is presented to users,” said AShok Sethu, VP of Anite Network Testing’s analytics business. “You can go from nationwide network and subscriber status to site-specific faults – all depending on what is relevant to the user. One can navigate through various data sources to gain deeper insight into the network, as opposed to accessing one-dimensional views that do not give sufficient information to perform true root cause analysis. The tool can show correlations of any data available for analysis. Changes to the network are viewed online, new data is captured and correlated to see if the changes improved or affected the network and, ultimately, customer experience.”

Anite also posted a trading update that said it is seeing continued “strong positive trends” for its business, including the acquisition of Xceed.

• A number of carriers and vendors have been making news lately with trials and tests of various technologies. China Mobile has been dabbling in voice over LTE with ZTE, while Ericsson and Qualcomm demonstrated LTE-Unlicensed for small cells.

• PCTel has added some new features to its in-building network testing solutions, including an Ethernet pot to its SeeGull IBflex scanning receiver, as well as a new version of its SeeHawk Touch software that lets users collect data on certain Android smartphones and tablets.

Speaking of indoor testing, I was able to go out recently with some representatives from Rohde & Schwarz to get a look at its QualiPoc Freerider III backpack equipment for walk testing. You can watch videos about the equipment and a demo on RCR Wireless News’ YouTube site; or watch the demo video below:

• With Mobile World Congress coming up, test companies are starting to talk about what they’ll be highlighting at the show. Anritsu will showcase a connected car diagnostics system that utilizes the cloud with its MD8475A mobile network simulator; provide live demonstrations of a mobile handset operating with a 450 Mbps data rate and experimental 5G waveforms. Anite is spotlighting the Nemo Xynergy solution mentioned above, and Keysight will focus on the capabilities of its E7515A UXM test set for LTE-Advanced, 3G user equipment testing and three component-carrier carrier aggregation at 450 Mbps.